Two Poems by Prof. Ljiljana Samardžić

November Morning

Early November "morn",

before the dawn, 

I'm standing by the window,

the deafening silence all over...

I'm looking into the thick darkness,

only moonlight rays are sparkling

through the branches.

There's nothing alive,

only the remaining yellow leaves

are playing in the breeze...

I enjoy the deaf silence and pitch darkness,

while through my thoughts are passing

nearby dearest faces 

peacefully sleeping,

dear ones in some distant parts of the globe,

and my beloved who left this world...

I'm exposing my face to the breeze

to feel its caresses,

while deeply breathing

clean, cool air,

soothing my longings...

I would've stayed immersed

into primordial darkness and silence

for quite long

if the first city bus passing nearby

hadn't interrupted my awake dreaming.

I finally went to bed,

its warmth embraced me,

I was sinking into a deep, calm sleep,

hoping to continue

the awake dreaming...!

□

Primordial Love

Life brings us

new encounters,

new challenges...

For a moment we think

that the time has come

to say goodbye

to old loves,

move on and build

a new love

from the start...

But it lasts

just like a timid summer rain,

and then we return

to the old love,

that nowhere moves

from the bosom...

Only stays calm

until the shower passes

and restarts to spread its flame

through the chest

with a new, but silent longing,

without passionate regreting

that we are no longer united,

realizing that

only such love is

imperishable and eternal,

love of the soul,

Primordial...!

□

© Prof. Ljiljana Samardžić

Novi Sad, Serbia 

ljiljanasamardzicns@gmail.com

Prof. Ljiljana Samardžić was born in Belgrade (SFR Yugoslavia), but she spent most of her lifetime in Sarajevo, where she completed Elementary school, finished High-Grammar school and graduated in English language and literature and Serbo-Croatian language at the Faculty of Philosophy. Along with the work as an interpreter/translator in a foreign trade company, she first studied Italian language and literature, and later, in 1992, she was still attending painting school when the war broke out in Sarajevo. So, she began working as an interpreter for the UN military observers, other international and Serbian organizations. After the war and the decomposition of the former Yugoslav territory, she left Sarajevo and moved to Sokolac, the Republic of Srpska, where she worked as an interpreter in the OSCE Regional centre. At the end of 1998, she left Bosnia and Herzegovina and joined her closest family in Novi Sad, where she worked as an English teacher in an elementary school. As a retired professor, she teaches English, translates poetry from and into English and writes her own poems in both Serbian and English.