VALENTINA NOVKOVIĆ

 

Seed Of Joy

(to my father)

 

These days have the smell of iodine,

infusions,

they wear the whiteness of cotton swabs

that are gathered

like the first blossoms

of early cherries.

Those that my father used to pick

while climbing high,

without fear of falling.

Now, weak, sick,

he still picks cherries in his mind

and makes wooden horses

for my little feet.

I know,

we will hug again with the pine trees

next to his birthplace,

we will again be faster than the thought "What if?"

because love clothes us

in the strongest clothes

that the wind can't do anything about.

And my father,

he will again plant seeds of joy

in my worried eyes.

 

Star

(to my mother)

 

My mother cannot be angry

with the rains,

she lowers beads of tenderness

on the bare trees,

singing them lullabies against spells.

She knows

how to reconcile bumblebees and wasps

by saying

that flowers are God's melody

to everyone's ears.

My mother doesn't stop knitting

incredible scarves,

she weaves prayers,

blessings and smiles into every thread

because she is the brightest star

that I always look up to

when life becomes painful.

 

A Handful

 

Don't forget to bow your eyes

in front of the ant and the grass

to whom the Lord blessed existence.

Your step and the buzz of a bee are the same

for the One who created everything.

Don't be proud in the face of pain

at least share a smile,

if you can't help.

Because your pain, and the pain of a wounded deer

echo equally loudly in Eternity.

Don't turn away from the hungry and barefoot,

Don't be proud of what you don't deserve.

We are all a handful of transience,

which was given to us for

to humbly bear the earthly cross

could reach Eternity.

 

VALENTINA NOVKOVIĆ

 

VALENTINA NOVKOVIĆ (Serbia), graduate philologist, poet, prose writer, literary translator. Editor in a publishing house. Published four book of poems (Timeless 2014, Drop by drop 2018, Riddles of Tenderness, 2020,Poems to the Heaven, 2022, which won the first prize at the Fifth Drina Literary Meeting) and one prose book (Two hours from reality, 2020), Winner of many awards for poetry and prose as well as for translations. The book of stories by the famous writer and translator Rahim Karimov, "Stories for youbg people" Alma, 2019, which she translated into Serbian, received the award for the best translated prose book in 2019 by Literary Translators. Her verses have been translated into 16 world languages, and the book Odgonetke nežnosti was translated into Romanian in 2022 (Leo Butnaru translator, Timpul publisher.) She has translated individual stories and poems of more than 300 authors into Serbian, interviewed all important creators around the world and interviews were published in more widely read newspapers or magazines for culture and art. Member of the Association of Writers of Serbia and Kazakhstan, the Serbian Literary Association, and many associations in the world. Editor and host of the forum "Literary Conversations".