Friendship Forged

Unjust blame strains heart

Forgiveness lightens burdens—

Bear hug seals friendship

© Ilija Lukić 2025

Tell-Tale Heart

Self-portrait at home on Cobble Ridge, Pittsboro NC

Journey Of Life

Keep in mind days of wine and roses,

When life seems darkest at death’s door.

It’s by design life juxtaposes

The good with bad and ugly, once more.

© Ilija Lukić 2025

The Good, Bad And Ugly

Flooding at Seaforth Peninsula on Jordan Lake NC

Daybreak Soliloquy

Connect with nature at sunrise,

Let your heart renew strength and soar.

Childlike, hail dead of night’s demise—

Her dark dungeons hold sway no more.

© Ilija Lukić 2025

Divine Awakening

Seaforth Peninsula on Jordan Lake NC

Solace

Anguish torments hearts 

Solace springs from quietude—

Restores flesh and soul

© Ilija Lukić 2025

Solace

Great blue heron fishes flooded shoreline at Jordan Lake NC

Virgin Mary And Christ Icon

I am a lifelong artist and have a deep, abiding interest in classic Byzantine icons—their beauty and power as windows into Heaven and channels of divine grace.

In the early 1960s our family resettled in California. Within the next year or two, at age 16, I painted this icon—emulating the Byzantine style.The Mother of God looks out at us and gestures with her hand towards Jesus, guiding our attention to Him, as the Way and the Light.

Photo of my painting (c. 1963)

The Virgin Mary and Christ..the Savior of our souls

Courage Reborn

When heart brims with joy,

Each beat wakes strong emotions—

Passion fuels courage.

© Ilija Lukić 2025

Courage Unchained

Oriental bittersweet vines in woodlands north of Pittsboro NC

Winter Daydreams

Snow squeaks underfoot
Hearth fire warms hands and nose
Heart soars with delight

© Ilija Lukić 2025

Should I heed past experience and "beware the Ides of March" or allow expectations of imminent springtide beauty to take center stage?

A meander through waning snows in the winter wood helps to shelve memories of the drama and havoc wreaked by winter weather. As it happens, in my heart the good memories about Old Man Winter and his minions invariably prevail.

Loblolly Alleé

Seldom-trodden forest road through winter pines, north of Pittsboro NC

Togetherness

Revenge consumes hearts

Forgiveness calms hard feelings

Turn the other cheek

© Ilija Lukić

Togetherness Of Purpose

Arthurian Knights of the Round Table legends endure at Mary Holmes Park, Pittsboro NC

Inner Dragons

Change adds spice to life

Inner dragons urge self-doubt

Fellowship stills qualms

© Ilija Lukić 2025

Facing Inner Dragons

Sculpture in Mary Holmes Park, Pittsboro NC

Rise Above Upheaval

Life changes stress mind,

Till soul takes courage to heart—

Upheaval spawns growth.

© Ilija Lukić

Rise Above Upheaval

Sunset shadows across herring gull molt and leaf litter on a grassy knoll at Ebenezer Point on Jordan Lake NC (photo impressionism)

A New Beginning

Countless herring gulls molt heavily in January and February, while they overwinter on Jordan Lake in Central North Carolina. Wrack lines of down accent rocky lakefronts and gossamer whispers of plumage cover adjacent grassy knolls.

As this new year unfolds into spring, it's time to take my feathered friends' annual rejuvenation to heart and reflect on my life's path. Shedding worn out, useless habits and soul-damaging influences in order to mindfully renew spirit-centered beginnings is the first step towards meaningful change—letting my revived, authentic self lead the charge into the last quarter-century of my life journeys.

© Ilija Lukić 2025

A New Beginning

Herring gull molt at Ebenezer Point on Jordan Lake NC

Hard Knocks

Hard knocks color life

Be bold lion not cowed lamb

Learn to love thunder 

© Ilija Lukić 2024

Sublime Thunder

The flood of warm sunset light across the ragged bark edges of an oak tree logging cut contrasts with an encrusted snowcap on said stump to create a visual metaphor of competing life force.

Eventide Harmony

Eventide spills peace

Sunset blaze stays veil of night—

World's in harmony

© Ilija Lukić 2025

Every now and then when I experience a spectacular sunset, my heart connects with the lyrical poem Pippa’s Song by Robert Browning. It encourages optimism, celebrates simplicity, beauty, harmony and our kinship with the natural world. I gratefully acknowledge inspiration for my haiku by his oft quoted line, “God’s in his Heaven—All’s right with the world!” from his broader 1841 verse drama Pippa Passes.

The verse drama takes the reader through the impact of virtues like optimism in helping us persevere through life’s challenges. It’s also a mindful monograph about allowing child-like innocence into our lives. The latter may seem at odds with the complexities of the modern world, where we are taught to guard against naivety and vulnerability. Yet, when we embrace the world openheartedly with the innocence of a child, we come to understand more intimately how simple the deepest secrets of existence really are.

Eventide Harmony

Haw River at Bynum NC

High Plains Roadrunner

Arid lands, short-grass prairies and immense wide-open spaces of New Mexico’s high plains indulge needs for solitude to recharge spiritual growth and recenter life’s journey. The quietude liberates heart and soul. The ambiance inspires poetry, introspection and personal growth.

In countless places the Llano Estacado plateau spills arroyos into dry creek beds, often the only landmarks for intrepid travelers of bygone days across the featureless expanse of grasses and cacti. While eyes lock onto and follow the winding ribbon of sunbaked sandflows artistry in one of the dry watercourses, my heart soars and spirit wings towards the avowed boundless horizon.

By nightfall my more earthbound nature feels at ease and in rapport with a lone roadrunner’s effortless passage through rough-hewn silhouettes of thorny tree cholla that reach into a fiery sunset. Such connections with the natural world nourish my essence. When all is said and done, they are sustenance my heart and soul crave.

© Ilija Lukic 2025

Roadrunner Sunset

Rockin' J Ranch west of Broadview NM

Llano Estacado Reverie

With bated breath from my armchair

I watched a snowflake dance on air,

From here to there, without a care—

Sublime, yet bold like trumpet blare.

Ere long mind’s eye scans a sea of grass, 

Flat-topped mesas, playas en masse,

Where hawks soar high above bear grass

And the Spirit of truth comes to pass.

Does breath of life teem with stardust?

Why am I here…what’s my life’s thrust?

How should I live…as not to rust?

Should I succumb to wanderlust?

Like swift fox stalking on the sly,

While lark exalts timeless blue sky.

Where boundless plain endures bone dry,

Till monsoon rain halts hue and cry.

There sandhill cranes roost in salt lakes,

Mid bison grunts chase ducks and drakes.

While pronghorn graze mid thorns and snakes,

Coyotes prowl in Caprock Breaks.

Be still my soul, enjoy said flight

Especially on starlit night,

When crescent Moon bathed in earthlight

Slows wheel of time—oh, sheer delight.

© Ilija Lukić 2025

Circle Of Life

American bison on Llano Estacado north of Clovis NM

Eternal Truths

When fogged-in minds clear

Hearts can know eternal truths—

God’s in the details.

© Ilija Lukić 2025

Befogged Perfection

Ebenezer Point shoreline at Jordan Lake NC

Wind In The Pines

Brisk river of wind tussles winter pines,

Which welcome said new dance to age-old tune—

Born of cosmic wind on celestial shorelines

Mid turmoil where time and the Divine commune.

© Ilija Lukić 2025

Celestial Shore

Jordan Lake shoreline at Ebenezer Point

Divine Sleeping Place

Ethereal beauty of wintry down

Favors God’s acre at Heaven’s doorway,

Where dearly departed, plain folk and renown,

In peaceful repose await judgement day.

© Ilija Lukić 2025

Divine Sleeping Place

Old Rock Springs Cemetery in Pittsboro NC

Rock Of Ages

Twenty-degree temperatures at daybreak assail senses and give rise to contemplation of human weaknesses.

At Ebenezer Point on Jordan Lake, the steadfast aura of a sandstone rib rising mystically from the rock-strewn, wave and wind-battered shore adds perspective about timeless beauty and perseverance. I pause and give mind's core free rein. 

Lost in thought I come to appreciate that yesterday may have been a challenge, but tomorrow brims with opportunities. I take a deep breath and embrace today's lakeshore meander as a gift from God—my rock of ages.

© Ilija Lukić 2025

Rock Of Ages

Ebenezer Point on Jordan Lake NC

The Cold Moon

Winter grips Earth realms

On moonlit night feast eyes on high

Cold Moon warms malaise

© Ilija Lukić 2025

(Among Native American cultures, Cree tribes call the first full Moon of the year the Cold Moon) 

The Cold Moon 

Cooper’s Cove on Jordan Lake NC