MILICA JEFTIMIJEVIĆ LILIĆ

MILICA YEFTIMIJEVĆ LILIĆ

ULYSSES' CONFESSION

When I set eyes on you,

It was the first rainy day

That I experienced as a sunny one.

After that on many rainy days

That life used to bring

(Then I could not know

That it was the moment for a dream)

I returned that rainy day,

Absorbing the Sun's shine from your face

In order to be able to proceed.

Aware that I could have you

Only in that moment of a short living dream

(Like a far-away star that is remembered)

I did not dare to extend my arms,

To utter anything

Fearing my presumptuous wish.

Later on, all suppressed words

Suffocated in my throat,

Their hush simply killed me

While you were more and more remote,

And I missed more and more

The Sun's shine from your face

And never more in my life

There flashed generous rains

So brilliantly and uniquely.

THE WOMAN

I was a ray of whoever I met,

The light being born on their faces.

I was a life-supporting breeze

That calmed down the uproar of frowning neighbours.

I was the murmur in valleys

Measured by the depth of man's loneliness

I was a string in Your hands

When You decided to celebrate the Might

I used to compete in singing with birds

And in playing with lightings

In the longing of the one waiting for me

I used to tread on the waves

To outsmart the destiny

I used to destroy darknesses to save him of sorrow.

I was an impetuous rain

Called on by droughts

In remote fields with no hope or life.

I was a doomsday to slanderers

The murmur to the mute, the unrepeatable truth,

But only the scream from my womb

Verified me as the woman.

YOU ARE BOTH FLAME AND FLOOD

Do come as long as I am more yours than mine

Ready to please you more than me

As long as I am the tempest raising you to the infinity you long for

As long as I am a wave hugging you,

Transforming you

As long as I am the spark enlightening you

Illuminating your being

Multiplying your Self

So that you blaze in your own multitude

Staring at your new faces

That yield abundance.

You are both flame and flood

imbued by my fires

You are supported by new forces

You are mightier than before

Enveloped by that love.

But do not give free rein to yourself

Deceived by that beauty

Do not be excessively proud

Do not measure my will

While I am still ready for anything.

Do not ask too much

In a trice you may be deprived

Of myself, of the Sun,

Of breath and hope

At the bottom of a dark abyss

With the dying love!

TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH BY

LAZAR MACURA

MILICA

JEFTIMIJEVIĆ LILIĆ

MILICA JEFTIMIJEVIĆ LILIĆ has published many collections of poems, a collection of short stories, and a book of essays on literature. Her poems have been translated into many languages, among which into Russian, Italian, English, Arabian, Hungarian, Turkish, Bulgarian, Romany, Slovakian etc. She has won many literary awards both at home and abroad. She is a member of the Association of Writers of Serbia, a member of “Number seven” Association of Writers in Frankfurt. She is an expert adviser to Italian International Council for Diplomacy and Justice.