Midwinter Reverie

Autumn bids farewell with humble hurrah

Bedecked by kaleidoscope of leaf litter,

Yet heeds bleak shadows, nature in the raw,

As waning warmth of sun turns life bitter.

Take care wild denizens of glade and stream

And townsfolk on developed village green.

Said signs bode advent of midwinter dream,

As solstice conjures Jack Frost’s austere mien.

Be unhurried oh winter’s frigid mirth,

Allay misgivings and wintertide fears,

In league with autumn talk of spring rebirth

And mid last gasp of color give three cheers.

Let divine spark preside o'er wintry breeze;
This kindles hope within the heart with ease. 

© Ilija Lukić 2019

Leaf Litter

Auguries Of Winter

With the winter solstice just days away, Old Man Winter is eager to set loose his frosty minions.

Solstice frees Jack Frost

Woodlands prepare for cold snooze
Autumn gives three cheers

© Ilija Lukić 2019

Winter Auguries
(Photo impressionism)

Sense Of Wonder

While en route to our local grocery on Thanksgiving Day, I pass several towering oaks ablaze with late autumn colors. Their majestic canopies dwarf a modest home in their shade. The awesome wonder overwhelms senses. For a moment my inner being connects with the divine.

Senses crave heaven
Autumn fills heart with wonder
Soul probes the Divine

© Ilija Lukić 2019

Sense Of Wonder
(Oaks on East Street in Pittsboro, North Carolina USA)

St Bartholomew's

After the boisterous ambience of Virlie's Grill and some local lunch fare (a pork loin sandwich with red potato home fries and sweet ice tea), a sunny late-autumn day invites a stroll about town. I stop at St Bart's Church. Whispers of history enliven my brief respite in the churchyard. Soundless autumn serenity behind sagging churchyard walls and weathered gateposts encourages a mind's eye excursion into local history.

I give thought to motives of the Colonial Assembly in New Bern, North Carolina as they establish Chatham County and St Bartholomew's Parisch in 1770. Amid chaos of the Revolutionary War from 1775-1783 colonists break with the Church of England and lay foundations for the Protestant Episcopal Church of America. In 1832 the Pittsboro congregation sets the cornerstone of St Bartholomew's Church. Over the years many notables of American history not only worship within the hallowed church nave, but also find eternal rest in the serenity of the churchyard.

© Ilija Lukić 2019

Autumn Serenity
(St Bartholomew's Episcopal Church in Pittsboro, North Carolina USA)

High Hopes

It’s been two weeks since Hurricane Dorian wreaked havoc across North Carolina’s coastal plain and communities, where recovery operations continue. Our one-inch rainfall in the wake of the tropical system has had minimal impact on drought conditions.

A strong high pressure ridge has settled in and much-needed rain seems to be at least a fortnight away. On a positive note, the southerly air flow around the ridge brings early-autumn daytime highs in the 70s with lows in the 50s. 

Woodlands behind our home sport first blushes of autumn finery in joyous anticipation of the autumnal equinox three days hence. Here in the eastern reaches of the Piedmont Plateau, humanity holds high hopes autumn colors signal wet and cool weather ahead.

© Ilija Lukić 2019 

High Hopes
(Powell Place woodlands in Pittsboro, North Carolina USA)

Perfect Disorder - Hurricane Dorian

For nearly a fortnight Hurricane Dorian gives pause to daily routine and allows me to ponder how interconnected Earth ecosystems achieve balance. Consider the multitude of variables which birth tropical waves over West Africa, then shepherd that perfect disorder of the status quo across vast expanses of the Atlantic. At crossing’s end some Caribbean islands, the Bahama Archipelago and southeastern United States coastal communities suffer the wrath of said tropical system, while most inland areas escape damaging winds, storm surges and flooding rains. Here modest rainfall from outlier storm bands revives parched farmlands, restores watercourses and improves comfort levels of human populations. I reflect on the good and bad in the wake of upheaval and concede that perfect disorder generated by hurricanes is necessary to achieve and maintain balance in the natural world.

Disorder born of breath from Saharan realms
Shepherds hurricane chasing perfect balance,
To restore Haw River edged by hardy elms
And kayakers on quests of meaningful essence.

© Ilija Lukić 2019

Perfect Disorder
(Haw River near Bynum, North Carolina USA)

Dog Days

Nicknamed the Dog Star, Sirius’ prominence in early July daybreak skies ushers in the Dog Days of summer. Throughout history folklore ascribes all manner of good and ill fortunes to said moniker. Befitting the latter, this year our neck of the woods still endures heat, drought and torrential thunderstorms. Sultry days and nights slow the pace of life. Hope banks on memories of crisp fall airs to take the edge off the misery. At wits’ end, humanity makes submissive overtures to Orion the mythological hunter and asks he leash his wretched hound.

Dog Star ablaze sways tales of antiquity,

Wherein Orions’s storied hound bodes misery.

Hot, humid days slow life and minds befog,

Until crisp autumn airs leash wretched dog.

© Ilija Lukić 2019

Dog Day Afternoon
(Haw River near Bynum, North Carolina USA)

Lincoln's Night On The Town

A mural of Honest Abe cruising in a vintage 1937 Lincoln Zephyr Coupe adds a lighthearted touch to the west-facing, exterior brick wall of the Lincoln Theatre in downtown Raleigh NC. A movie house for black Americans in the 1940s, the theater closed its doors to movie goers in 1975. After years of neglect with several temporary occupancies followed by renovations, the Lincoln Theatre reopened as a well-known Raleigh music venue in the early 2000s.

© Ilija Lukić 2019

Lincoln's Night On The Town
(Lincoln Theater Mural, Raleigh North Carolina)

Summer's Mellow Ale

Come, let’s drink deeply of summer’s mellow ale,

Brewed of earth, sun and timely rain showers

And ere long realize how human artworks pale,

When compared to the perfect smiles of flowers.

© Ilija Lukić 2019

Summer's Mellow Ale
(Black-Eyed Susans at Old Bynum, North Carolina General Store)

Ethereal Tiger

Winged tiger alights, beauty to unveil;

Exquisite wings kissed by the morning sun

And feelers to elegant swallowtail

Betoken strikingly summer-long fun.

© Ilija Lukić 2019

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
(Pittsboro, North Carolina)

Beacon Of Spiritual Enlightenment

Erected inside the once fortified village plaza by humble farmers some 260 years ago, the Santuario San José de Gracia on the High Road to Taos in Las Trampas, New Mexico stands as silent symbol of quiet dignity and hope. It endures as a beacon of enlightenment in the face of what some devout scholars admonish are twilight years of Christian spirituality.

I pause at the portal of an adobe-walled courtyard and reflect on my own journey of spiritual awakening. The sunlit church facade reaches into menacing skies. Not less than ten weathered crosses atop modest adobe spires catch the eye. They boldly challenge the Cimmerian shade of an approaching mountain storm. The scene bespeaks metaphors of forces at play...the eternal conflict between good and evil.

© Ilija Lukić 2019

Santuario San José De Gracia
(1780s Spanish Colonial Church in Las Trampas NM USA)

Midsummer Muddles

While winter besets far realms Down Under,

Stonehenge at dawn augurs heydays ahead.

People of the land dread windblown thunder,

Yet long for rain tap-dancing upon farmstead.

See trade winds carry billows of Sahara dust.

They whisper bold yarns of ancient mariners

In search of untold fortunes rapt in gold lust,

Often shipwrecked or set upon by buccaneers.  

Many a time it’s the muddled paths in life

That lead to accomplishment and prosperity.

Ergo success achieved absent ample strife

Is duly short-lived, with contentment a rarity.

Whenever breaches of peace nudge serenity

They also sway wisdom and spiritual clarity.

© Ilija Lukić 2019

Midsummer Muddles
(Haw River near Bynum Bridge in North Carolina USA)

Liqueur Chartreuse

Formulated in 1605 and distilled by Carthusian monks since 1737 in their Chartreuse Mountains monastery near Grenoble, France, the liqueur comes in yellow and green versions. In spring Mother Nature pays homage to the monks and impressionist painter Claude Monet by painting vast stretches of Carolina meadows with splashes of exhilarating chartreuse.

© Ilija Lukić 2019

Liqueur Chartreuse

Wellspring Of Lore

Near Siler City North Carolina, where the eastern edges of the Piedmont Plateau slide into the Atlantic Coastal Plain, stands a testament to rugged individualism. It stirs American frontier lore from timeless slumber. Old homesteads are a wellspring of insight into days of yore. One such cabin with well fires my imagination. Camera in hand I spirit away this moment in time.

© Ilija Lukić 2019

Bygone Days

Vernal Heydays

Spring makes melody in harmony with time eternal.

It’s nature’s way to reveal God in earthbound realm.

How better to acknowledge said divine instrumental

Than poetry of spring as vernal heydays overwhelm.

© Ilija Lukić 2019

Divine Resurrection
(Spring in the countryside east of Siler City, North Carolina USA)

Poetry Of Spring

Vernal Heydays
(Livestock on farm along old Highway 64 bypass west of Pittsboro NC USA)

Benevolent Adversity

Behold sunlight dance with untamed watercourse;

In company with shadows lift mood of tawny surge.

Banks awash forewarn floods which in due course

Encourage mindset of resilience to emerge.

© Ilija Lukić 2019

Benevolent Adversity
(Haw River at Bynum, North Carolina USA)

Elephant Butte Sunset

A week ago arctic breath keeps denizens of the Piedmont Plateau here in North Carolina huddled near hearth fires. Today a fifty degree temperature hike seems to vindicate Punxsutawney Phil’s prediction of an early spring. The balmy early-February weather reaches into mind’s eye and looses memories of a sunset at Elephant Butte in the Navajo Valley of the Rocks, more commonly known as Monument Valley.

© Ilija Lukić 2019

Elephant Butte Sunset (Photo-Impressionism)

Serendipitous Perfection

Chaos is the lifeblood of creativity.
Do not fear its assault on senses.
Appreciate its kaleidoscope of disarray
For it lays bare the essence of the universe.

Embrace chaos as a tool of spirituality.
Uncover harmony veiled in its aftermath.
In temporal things felt, seen or perceived,
Let upheaval heighten clarity of purpose.

Befriend chaos it inspires contemplation,
Which brings to light keen readings of reality.
Then, with weighty prose or artful imagery
Harness its power in moments of perfection.

© Ilija Lukić 2019

Felicitous Kiss
A well-chosen spot for an affectionate expression of love. The kiss briefly suspends ravages of time and weather on the Old Highway 15 concrete span across the Haw River near Bynum NC 

Sissipawhaw River Serpent
Oral traditions of people once indigenous to North Carolina woodlands cherish legends of Uktena, a dragon-like horned serpent.

Auspicious Moonrise
Ripped from its mundane, albeit functional existence during the tumult of floodwaters wrought by Hurricane Florence, this culvert is an artful reminder of triumph over chaos.

Lunar Eclipse

At midnight on January 21, 2019, the awaited lunar eclipse adds an aura of mystery and awesome wonder to starlit skies over Pittsboro NC. Roughly fifty minutes after Earth's shadow veils the Moon's brilliant countenance a peripheral crescent of light signals rebirth of the heavenly body. Night air in the mid-twenties cuts short enjoyment of primeval moods. Later tonight arctic airs in the teens will slide chill factors into single digits.

© Ilija Lukić 2019

Lunar Eclipse 2019

(Over Powell Place in Pittsboro, North Carolina USA)