MILICA JEFTIMIJEVIĆ LILIĆ

 

God Unites Us

 

That touch of the hands,

That sublime giving

Occurred beyond recall.

As if we washed death

From our hands

Everything that used to be

Between us

For centuries.

We were gathered by the Logos.

 

As if we were born

In that joining of the hands, ž

In the bliss not felt before.

 

The water of the essence

Flows through us

Into our palms,

So that God's face

Reflects in it

And speaks through us.

 

God unites us

He is here to stay!

He has settled into our palms

And we keep Him to ourselves.

 

The Touch Of The Universe

 

For B.

 

All of me got into that look

Unpredictably, casually,

Almost by fate

Like into a cloak enveloping all.

That look embraced me

Cautiously, primordially,

And the warmth flew through my mind.

For a moment the World turned blue

Like a newly discovered cove,

It got an innocent expression

And stopped being evil.

 

Awaked by that look, my being

Beamed with joy suspecting a sunny waterfall,

The necessity of blending with the Other,

The fulness expressing the meaningt,

The readiness to

Scream out the Existence.

 

Somewhere, due to that flash,

An almond tree, mute of waiting, burst into blossom,

A restless yellow water lily

Calmed down.

Two isles approached each other

Carried by a strange stream

As if they had been one whole

Before the Flood.

 

The thought longing fro a spark flamed up

Heidegger, Nietzsche, Florensky,

They all happened to be in the game unexpectedly,

And only the hands venturing the touch,

Denying words, knowledge,

Victoriously touched the Universe

Taking down the tattoo of the mind.

 

The Inseparable

 

You can be seduced by all goddesses in succession,

Hellenic, Roman, Slavic ones,

You can be conquered by Vesta,

All your thoughts can be tied in knots

By Ariadne,

Aiming to erase, to cancel me.

Your eyes can be

Blindfolded by Chronos,

Your hearing can be stunned by Circe,

But in the softest murmur of wind

You will hear my heart whispering

A prayer for your calm.

 

In a sharp shriek of a seagull

You will identify the scream of my soul

Into which you took a peep once.

 

In an unexpected cloud above you,

When you are filled with joy,

You will see my face full of tears

That, looking for you, hides its longing.

 

Escaping the most tremendous danger

You will feel the blessing

Obtained by the mutenes of my lips.

 

In your most secret part

You will know that I am here

And at times you will smile at me

Compassionately.

 

In the deepest doubt in everything

You will meet my eyes which know

That, once broken,

Like us,

Never give themselves to anyone wholly.

 

Translated From The Serbian By Lazar Macura       

 

MILICA JEFTIMIJEVIĆ LILIĆ

 

MILICA JEFTIMIJEVIĆ LILIĆ was born at Lovac near Banjska, Kosovo & Metohija, on August 28, 1953. She graduated at the Faculty of Philosophy in Priština, and won a master's degree in philological sciences at the University of Belgrade. She was a professor at the University of Priština, and editor on Belgrade TV. She has published the following collections of poems: Dark, Salvation, The Hibernation (1998), The Travelogue of the Skin (2003), and a collection of stories The Subject-matter of the Case (2002). She has also published books of criticism: Poetics of the Premonition (2004), The Epsistomlogical Illuminations (2007), Critical Roots and Ranges (2011), The Exactness of the Secret (2012). ... In total 29 books. She also writes stories for children which have been published in Children's Papers, Jedinstvo, and other newspapers. She has been awardedv many literary national and international prestigious awards.