Poems by Milica Jeftimijevic Lilic

A NOTE ON THE POETESS

Milica Jeftimijević Lilić, academic of Slavic academy (Varna),  poetess, writer, critic, journalist end un cultural activist,  from Serbia, has published many collections of poems, a collection of shorty stories, and a book of essyas on literature ( 30). Her poems have been translated into many languages, among which into Russian, Italian, English, Arabian, Hungarian, Turkish, Albanian, Bulgarian, Romany, Slovakian, etc.

She has won many literary awards both at home and abroad. She was vice president and  a member of the Association of Writers of Serbia,  a member of  Writers Capital Fondation from Inia, “Sedmica” Association of Writers in Frankfurt…

She is an expert adviser to Italian International Council for Diplomacy and Justice. ..

THE TOUCH OF A DISTANCE

 

My clairvoyant hands,
as hot as a sorcerer’s hands
set in motion by thought
touch the chosen thing,
it is them that have encountered you.
Seeing better than the eyes
they impeccably guide me,
Logos always appeals to me.

I write down a word or two
and the rainbow gives a flash
fusing two violent waters
aware of the might of the said.
It shoots them through to the bottom
integrated by the force of origins.
Out of the overheated core
sterling flows over
with a deep trail.

I touch letters one by one,
they spread energy with ease.
Receiving it you light up –
you open all doors
to me – a woman.
And you do not know what breaks you:
either the touch of fire or the might of the said
that defeated you at once.
Or the secret of the being from afar
that flashes when fusing with you.

 

 GLORY TO THEE

 

Glory to Thee, O Lord,

World without end

For endowing me with a miraculous might

To yield like earth,

To transform

Like water into the blessed wine

Touched with the almighty spark.

 

Glors to Thee, O Lord,

World without end

For multiplying my body

Possessed by love,

Translated into dear faces

Which lit me up

Like the light of Tabor

Shining perpetually.

 

Glory to Thee, O Lord,

World without end

For elevating me with the Logos

To reach the unimagined,

To collect the jewels of mind

Into the timeless string

To shine with Thee

World without end.

 

Glory to Thee, O Lord

World without end

For endowing me

With all-merciful love

While I glisten inspired

With Thy presence

Praising Thy might

Amazed by my

Doom.

 

Glory to Thee, O Lord,

World without end

For our becoming relatives

Imbued with the Logos.

 

POETRY

 

Being born out of body and mind,

I am a duality

Defined by heavenly and bodily existence.

Sometimes I celebrate the Creator,

the soul of everything,

Sometimes I am only a body,

My earthly being burns brightly.

Sometimes helpless I curse base

intents of the world,

Sometimes I whine sadly

For the lost home, man, and mind.

But I am always open to the rapture

of the heart

Fleeing to me.

I am a shelter for unappeased minds,

Always pliable for the exploring hand.

 

And I will be what I am at any cost.

I am the very life condensed in the uttered,

The very soul that has cast off the fetters of the body,

The very passion that has risen up above the body.

I am the Truth of the world (about world) undenied,

For ages I’ve been breathing through the newborn,

I disregard those who are deaf to my warnings,

Even if they are sages, sorcerers,

I despise merchants no matter how deftly

They celebrate my premature childen.

 

I am coquettish and I do not seduce in vain.

I will not ingratiate myself with conceived entourage,

The loving eyes are enough.

And I will survive without tricks

Of morose commentators.

More advanced is my Knowledge,

I will not carry favor to be heard

By people trained for Recognitions

After the fashion of clans.

 

No, I am not a green lass

Who must go ahead,

And I will not sit on the lap

Of respected Professors,

Academicians, to set in motion

Their consumed Eros

With my young blood.

I renounce snivelling on my strong breast.

 

I have been created for the collision with hurricanes

Which I will outsmart with my Constancy,

I am the healthiest daughter of mind and body.

I cannot be stopped by anyone

Although the Universe has conspired to silence me,

But I am its cosncience, and sooner or later

I will say everything!

 

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 yourslef

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!

 

METAMORPHOSES

 

For a long time I did not trust in myself

Knowing neither you nor me,

Fearing the great secret.

But like the reflection of Your might

All is worth admiring

Unbroken, the One!

I did not perceive at once

To be a part of Your secret.

I kept searching for answers,

Earthly and heavenly ones,

To conceive the Being,

And everything kept eluding painfully

So that in that emptiness

I did not know myself for a long time

Unaware of that unity.

 

But I did respond to Your calls

Following the marked track

Where I was taking shapes

Through miraculous visions.

 

I did not rsepect myself enough

Requiring more of myself

Even when I became aware of You,

And could I really Exist

Without Your consent,

Without Your share in my life?

 

In that ignorance I suffered

And You inhabited the home of every being

With Your strength, with immeasurable love.

With miracles visible to every eye

Until I became more wisely alert to every shake

With which You made Yourself heard

Illuminating signposts

Waking up my undiscovered forces

Arisen from Your mercy,

Ready

To verify You

To provide answers

Shining with Your brightness

Transformed to transform

Whatever I touched,

Taking on lease Your gifts

To multiply them

And to sculpt them anew with pure light.

 

When I began to trust you

I perceived myself anew,

And I got rid of fear,

Of the care that kept pulling the independent being

To the abyss.

Your life-saving shelter

Illuminated me

Like Your persistent part

Approved on the road to eternity,

Called on by You,

That for a while was hampered

By the earthly traps

Intended for temptations, for the testing of faith.

 

 

Author: Mr Milica Jeftimijevic Lilic

Translation: Denisa Kondic

 

Author: Mr Milica Jeftimijevic Lilic

Translation: Denisa Kondic

Trans. Lazar Macura

 

 

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