From This Mountaintop

All the suns and the planets, the moons and the stars,
Held aloft in the heavens like so many props;
Plot their well-thought out courses and write their memoirs,
I can see it all so clearly from this mountaintop.

All the birds of the air and the creatures of earth,
Scarpering and scampering, they clamber and hop;
In life and in death they live out their worth,
I can see it all so clearly from this mountaintop.

All the troubles and the turmoil and the waves of unrest,
All the famines and the wars that are fought non-stop;
Nothing more and no less than Souls put to the test,
I can see it all so clearly from this mountaintop.

All the pleasures and the pains and the tears that you cried,
All the wins and the losses and the embarrassing flops;
Served no other purpose than to reave you of pride,
I can see it all so clearly from this mountaintop.

All the misstarts and the missteps and the misjudgements too,
All the half-loves and the half-truths so over the top;
Painstakingly prepared and then led me to you…
I can see it all so clearly from this mountaintop!

19 09 2023

Haiku Sequence

Morning Star

spring shower,
fluttering in a thicket;
discarded love letter

heat of the day;
a fly carelessly swept aside
meets its maker

scorched earth;
a lone yellow wildflower
lifts it’s fragrant head

hope springs eternal;
after the long dark night,
morning star

Why, indeed, dear friend? As Blake said, “Some are born to sweet delight, some are born to endless night”. Loss, vulnerability and pain ultimately serve to bring us closer to God. I do not think they serve any other purpose than this. An aquaintance from many years ago, the wife of a friend whom I met recently informed me that their beloved daughter had passed away at the age of 40. Despite having two wonderful sons both married with children, the mother has not recovered although life goes on. Macedonians have a saying, “Where God is, no one is.” And so we continue.

The Flowers When I’m Gone

When the cows were in and the sheep accounted for,

I’d fold your clothes and place them in your drawer.

An hour after sunset, done with toil and drear,

Waiting for your footsteps until you finally appear.

In those twilit hours while listening to you sleep,

I’d sift through countless dreams and bitter would I weep;

It seems like yesterday, our youthful limbs on fire,

Learning the ways of love, trembling with desire!

When the northern wind and the frost comes creeping in,

You’ll make your bed, the bed you’ll be sleeping in.

Your song I will hear in the wind at dawn,

Singing through the flowers, the flowers when you’re gone.

Our children they’ve grown with babies two apiece,

More than a year has passed, my favourite one is Lise.

I swear I see you in her smile, and eyes both wise and kind,

But she will grow up far away, while I am here confined.

And now this house is empty, drained of life once sweet,

I struggle to find some meaning, instead I lose my feet.

Last week I took a fall that damn near spelled defeat;

The rain and that roof you never did complete.

Alone here now all sense begins to unravel,

What dreams are left to dream, what roads left to travel?

Do you remember love, the day that we were wed,

Were the promises that we made, simply words we said?

When the northern wind and the frost come creeping in,

I’ll make my bed, the bed I’ll be sleeping in.

My song you will hear in the wind at dawn,

Singing through the flowers, the flowers when I’m gone…

http://valenis.net/gallery4.php#image-8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E71G-kbD7Xo&t=127s

“Македонска љубовна приказна“ е видео приказна составена од околу 450 фотографии, која ги промовира македонските природни убавини, историски знаменитости, цркви, манастири, обичаи, традиции, носии… Видео-изложбата е промовирана во Обединетите Нации во Женева на 6 Септември 2023.

“Macedonian Love Story” is a video presentation comprised of around 450 photographs that promote Macedonia’s natural wonders, historic characteristics, churches, monasteries, customs, traditions, costumes… the video exhibit is being promoted in the UN @ Geneva 2023.

Emerging Shapes of Day

one by one
each shimmering star dissolves –
emerging shapes of day

wolves closing in,
the wounded tiger’s final stand;
blood on piled up snow

blue moon,
seems so ordinary –
the one I love gone

after the storm,
umbrella torn to shreds,
the disgruntled lover returns

from a distance,
her long black hair, as lean
and sleek as a swallow’s wing

The Dragon of Fear

Come hither, worm, and show thy face,
Renounce thy convoluted coil!
The crown of wonder you would displace
And my native joy, despoil.

Come, don your dark and baleful wings
And sow thy blights both far and wide;
And in the sickness of all things
Regale the tyrant and his bride.

Come, demon of the battlefield,
Hovering o’er the blood-soaked sward;
Where fighting kings and princes yield –
Take heed my freshly burnished Sword!

Come, o hydra, what good are heads,
Multiplied by powers of ten?
Thy spectres thrive on naught but dread
And haunt the sovereign dreams of men.

Come, pestilence of mind and heart,
And know that only Death misgives;
Of despair you’ve made an art,
That twists and blackens all that lives.

Come, sullen trickster, do confess,
That when of doubt we’re finally clear;
The weight of thy own nothingness
Before the sunburst disappears!

the winds sing and the                                                                                                                             lilies spin and everything                                                                                                                      is as it should be