PRAYER, a Poem by Prof. Ljiljana Samardžić

We live in days

crucial for survival

of the Human race.

The forces of Evil

set fires

across our

Only Home,

in the desire to turn it

into a blaze,

a flaming orb that wanders

until it burns out and disappears

in boundless spaces of Space.

I am not afraid of anything!

I feel that your soul

hugs me from distance,

so I calmly pray

our Creator

to forgive us all our sins

and give one more chance,

in the name of true love,

which is here still celebrated,

for the sake of our children,

who we must not leave to

Satan.

Brothers and sisters,

from the beautiful planet Earth,

Let's Pray,

without cease,

so that our

most sincere and penitential

Prayers

reach

The Almighty

and together with his power

prevail and win

the accumulated forces of Evil!

- Written and translated into English by Prof. Ljiljana Samardžić, Novi Sad, Serbia

Prof. Ljiljana Samardžić was born in Belgrade, the capital of former Yugoslavia and now the capital of Serbia. However, she spent most of her life in Sarajevo, where she completed Elementary school, finished Grammar school and graduated from English language and literature and Serbo-Croatian language at the Faculty of Philosophy. She also studied Italian language and literature along with the work as an interpreter/translator in a trade company. Besides, she attended a painting school and was very active in painting until 1992, when the war in Sarajevo broke out. During the war, she worked as an interpreter for the UN military observers and many other international organizations. When the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina ended, she left Sarajevo, worked as an interpreter in the Regional centre of the OSCE in Sokolac, the Republic of Srpska (the entity of BandH). By the end of 1998, she moved to Novi Sad, Serbia, where she lives until now. In Novi Sad she worked as an English teacher. After the retirement, she continued holding private English classes. She often translates poetry from and into English and also writes poems in both Serbian and English.