Nebo je nad Beogradom prostrano i visoko, promenljivo a uvek lepo; i za zimskih vedrina sa njihovom studenom raskoši; i za letnjih oluja kada se celo pretvori u jedan jedini tmurni oblak koji, gonjen ludim vetrom, nosi kišu pomešanu s prašinom panonske ravnice; i u prolece kad izgleda da cvate i ono, uporedo sa zemljom; i u jesen kad oteža od jesenjih zvezda u rojevima. Uvek lepo i bogato, kao naknada ovoj cudnoj varoši za sve ono cega u njoj nema i uteha zbog svega što ne bi trebalo da bude. Ali najveca raskoš toga neba nad Beogradom, to su suncevi zalasci. U jesen i u leto oni su prostrani i jarki kao pustinjske vizije, a zimi prigušeni tmastim oblacima i rujnim maglama. A u svako doba godine vrlo su cesti dani kad se oganj toga sunca koje zalazi u ravnici, medu rekama pod Beogradom, odbije cak gore u visokoj kupoli neba, i tu se prelomi i prospe kao crven sjaj po razasutoj varoši. Tada suncano rumenilo oboji za trenutak i najzabacenije uglove Beograda i odblesne u prozorima i onih kuca koje inace slabo obasjava.

Ivo Andric

The sky above Belgrade is wide and high, unstable but always beautiful, and the serenity of the winter with their icy splendor; even during summer storms when the whole into a single gloomy cloud which, driven by the mad wind, carries the rain mixed with the dust of the Pannonian plain, and spring when it seems that it also blooms, along with the ground, and in autumn when it grows heavy with the autumn stars in swarms. Always beautiful and rich, as a compensation to this strange town for everything that is not there, and a consolation because of everything that should not be. But the greatest splendor of that sky above Belgrade, that are the sunsets. In autumn and in summer they are spacious and bright like desert, a winter smothered by murky clouds of mist and September. And at any time of year frequently come the days when the flame of that sun setting in the plain, between the rivers beneath Belgrade, gets reflected way up in the high dome of the sky, and it breaks there and pours over the scattered town. Then suncano colored blush for a moment even the remotest corners of Belgrade and reflects into the windows of those houses it otherwise poorly illuminates.

Ivo Andric