A Report from Laibach Poem by Roland Orcsik

After each performance Mahler
used to sip two glasses of
Pilsner (no more no less)
with his chaps at Pri Roži Inn.

Thus began the conductor's prelude:
The Magic Flute with two glasses of beer.

At the time Ljubljana was still a patch
on the rusty sack of the Monarchy.
Država skrbi, frowned a hundred
years later the group Laibach.

Empire fell on empire
with background music striking the ear;
meanwhile all remained the same.
All of its worth was heard when the music came.

Translated by Zoltán Lengyel