Ktulu šauksmas

„Zamislivo je da je od takvih velikih sila ili bića nešto preostalo ...

“Of such great powers or beings there may be conceivably a survival ...

ostatak iz neizmerno daleke epohe kada se ...

a survival of a hugely remote period when ...

svest ispoljavala,

consciousness was manifested,

možda,

perhaps,

u likovima i oblicima davno uzmaknulim pred plimom nadolazećeg čovečanstva ...

in shapes and forms long since withdrawn before the tide of advancing humanity ...

oblicima o kojima su jedino poezija i legenda uhvatile begunačko sećanje i nazvale ih bogovima,

forms of which poetry and legend alone have caught a flying memory and called them gods,

čudovištima,

monsters,

mitskim bićima svih vrsta i rodova....“

mythical beings of all sorts and kinds....”

—Algernon Blackwood.

—Algernon Blackwood.

1.

1.

Užas u glini.

The Horror in Clay.

Najmilosrdnija stvar na svetu,

The most merciful thing in the world,

mislim,

I think,

jeste nesposobnost ljudskog uma da poveže sav svoj sadržaj.

is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.

Živimo na mirnom ostrvu neznanja posred crnih mora beskonačnosti,

We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity,

i nije nam bilo suđeno da otplovimo daleko.

and it was not meant that we should voyage far.

Nauke,

The sciences,

svaka napregnuta u svom pravcu,

each straining in its own direction,

dosad su nam malo naudile;

have hitherto harmed us little;

ali jednoga dana sastavljanje razdvojenih znanja otvoriće takve zastrašujuće vidike stvarnosti,

but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality,

i našeg strahotnog položaja u njoj,

and of our frightful position therein,

da ćemo ili poludeti od tog otkrovenja ili pobeći od smrtonosne svetlosti u mir i sigurnost novoga mračnog doba.

that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.

Teozofi su naslutili strahotnu veličanstvenost kosmičkog ciklusa u kome su naš svet i ljudska rasa samo prolazne epizode.

Theosophists have guessed at the awesome grandeur of the cosmic cycle wherein our world and human race form transient incidents.

Nagoveštavali su čudne preživele ostatke rečima koje bi ledile krv da ih ne prikriva blag optimizam.

They have hinted at strange survivals in terms which would freeze the blood if not masked by a bland optimism.

Ali nije od njih došao onaj jedini pogled u zabranjene eone koji me mrazi kada o njemu mislim i izluđuje kada o njemu sanjam.

But it is not from them that there came the single glimpse of forbidden eons which chills me when I think of it and maddens me when I dream of it.

Taj pogled,

That glimpse,

kao i svi strašni pogledi na istinu,

like all dread glimpses of truth,

blesnuo je iz slučajnog spajanja razdvojenih stvari —

flashed out from an accidental piecing together of separated things —

u ovom slučaju stare novinske beleške i zapisa jednog mrtvog profesora.

in this case an old newspaper item and the notes of a dead professor.

Nadam se da niko drugi neće dovršiti to spajanje;

I hope that no one else will accomplish this piecing out;

zasigurno,

certainly,

ako poživim,

if I live,

nikada neću svesno dodati kariku tako gnusnom lancu.

I shall never knowingly supply a link in so hideous a chain.

Mislim da je i profesor,

I think that the professor,

takođe,

too,

nameravao da ostane nem o onome delu koji je znao,

intended to keep silent regarding the part he knew,

i da bi uništio svoje zapise da ga nije zadesila iznenadna smrt.

and that he would have destroyed his notes had not sudden death seized him.