Morbidi i Mnoći — Put (The Path)

1987 · Belgrade · Goth/Darkwave

Lyrics

Verse 1

Na svome putu moraš biti sam Na svome putu moraš biti sam Na svome putu ja sam opet sam Sudbina je moja da živim Živim za nju

Verse 2

Svake noći ja gledam Nefretiti I to je normalno Udaram glavom u zid U svaku subotu Samo za nju

Verse 3

Svetovid se smeje sa plafona I to je normalno A ja moram da živim Za svoju sudbinu

Chorus

Jer dete kasno je Auu kasno je I dete kasno je I da se umire I dete kasno je Auu kasno je I dete kasno je Auu kasno je

Translation

Verse 1

On your own path you must be alone On your own path you must be alone On my own path I am again alone My destiny is to live I live for her

Verse 2

Every night I gaze at Nefertiti And that is normal I bang my head against the wall Every Saturday Only for her

Verse 3

Svetovid laughs from the ceiling And that is normal But I must live For my own destiny

Chorus

Because child, it is late Aah, it is late And child, it is late And to die And child, it is late Aah, it is late And child, it is late Aah, it is late

Notes on the Poetry

The sam/sam Pivot

The most brilliant line is ja sam opet sam. Sing it slowly:

• ja sam = I am (verb jesam, 1st person short form)
• opet sam = again alone (adjective sam)

Identical sound. Verb then adjective. "I am again alone." The language itself is telling you that existence and solitude are the same word.

The Arc

Verse 1 ends with živim za nju — "I live for her." Verse 3 ends with za svoju sudbinu — "for my own destiny." The grammar is identical (feminine accusative after za), but the object shifts from her to destiny. The path leads away from the beloved and toward fate itself.

Nefertiti and Svetovid

A dead Egyptian queen and a pre-Christian Slavic god with four faces — two mythic figures watching him from impossible distances. One he gazes at every night; the other laughs down from the ceiling. Neither can help. "And that is normal."

Death as Atmosphere

Da se umire — impersonal reflexive, imperfective aspect. Not "I die" but "dying happens," the slow ongoing condition of mortality. The chorus dissolves into repetition — kasno je, kasno je — until meaning fades into pure incantation.

Grammar Drilled By Singing This

Form in song	Case	Why
na putu	Locative	location: "on the path"
svome (putu)	Locative	possessive agreeing with locative noun
svake noći	Genitive	time expression: "of every night"
glavom	Instrumental	means: "with the head"
u zid	Accusative	direction: "into the wall"
u subotu	Accusative	time: "on Saturday"
za nju	Accusative	purpose: "for her"
za sudbinu	Accusative	purpose: "for destiny"
svoju (sudbinu)	Accusative	possessive agreeing with acc. noun
sa plafona	Genitive	origin: "from the ceiling"

That's 5 of the 7 cases in one short song. Only dative and vocative are missing — and dete arguably fills the vocative.

Detailed Grammatical Notes

Verse 1

• sam appears twice in the pivot line — first as the verb "I am" (jesam short form), then as the adjective "alone." Same sound, two grammatical roles.

Verse 2

• svake noći — genitive of time. "Of every night" = "every night." Serbian/Croatian expresses recurring time with genitive case, no preposition needed.
• glavom — instrumental case, no preposition. The instrument you use to do something goes into instrumental. "With-head into wall." The -om ending is your instrumental feminine singular marker.
• u subotu — accusative of time with u. Days of the week take u + accusative for "on [day]." Compare with svake noći (genitive, no preposition) — two different time constructions in the same verse.

Verse 3

• smejati se — reflexive verb. Many emotional/bodily verbs in Serbian are reflexive: smejati se (laugh), bojati se (fear), nadati se (hope). The se is non-negotiable.
• sa plafona — genitive of origin/separation after sa/s (from). Plafon is from French plafond.
• moram da živim (da + present tense) vs verse 1's moraš biti (infinitive). Both mean the same thing. The da + present construction is more colloquial Serbian; the bare infinitive is more Croatian/literary.

Chorus

• dete — either vocative (addressing someone: "child!") or the neuter noun "child." The ambiguity is deliberate.
• umirati (imperfective "to die" — the slow, ongoing process of dying, not the completed act umreti). Da se umire — impersonal reflexive: "that one dies" / "for dying to happen."