Poet Rúfus has his memorial ceremonially unveiled under Poludnica

THE BURIAL site of Slovak poet Milan Rúfus at the cemetery in his native municipality of Závažná Poruba under the Poludnica hill now has a new memorial. One of the most important representatives of Slovak literature is commemorated by the words “Básnik mladosti, sĺz a našich ľúbostí” / “The Poet of Youth, Tears and Our Loving” on his tombstone.

“He constantly recalled his native region of Liptov, and we received many visits from Poruba and wider neighbourhood. Physically, he lived in Bratislava, but his spirit was still in Liptov. I am thankful that his Liptov compatriots do not forget him,” widow Magda Rúfusová told the TASR newswire. “He was really also the poet of our loving. He often wrote love poems to me, but I will never publish them. They will stay known forever just to those whom they were meant for,” she stated.

Mayor of Závažná Poruba Pavel Baráni stressed the personality of Rúfus (1928-2009). “Of course, he was a poet from Poruba, who lived in Bratislava, but he belongs forever to the whole Slovak nation, and his unique work brought the master of words to the pedestal of world literature,” stressed Baráni. He also noted that the municipality administers the House of Milan Rúfus in which original editions of his first works can be found. “We preserve this building in the form in which it was left by Auntie Rúfusová, Milan’s mother. In his birth-place, we organise occasional meetings and events,” he concluded.