Sunshine For The Heart

Last night’s passion lingers on finger tips,

While tender whispers keep daybreak at bay.

Till hearts bid adieu with tears upon lips

That ache for new tryst with little delay

Be still, let me make sense of your heartbeat

And kiss me like there are no tomorrows.

Touch my soul earnestly, without deceit.

Let heart’s eye find us lustful in meadows.

Summon into mind sunny garden bower

Where we renew love’s essence when apart;

Because my heart, like a field sunflower,

Thrives on the sunlight that floods from your heart

Love lives not in reason, but in the heart,

And grows most deeply when hearts are apart.

© Ilija Lukić 2020

Eternal Battle Of Light vs Darkness

Recently an important person in my life pronounced my views of our country to be filthy and an unacceptable contagion.

I pondered the comment in relation to my life experiences and present national mood. Unmistakably, I sensed that odious shadows vying for dominion over our country’s soul since time immemorial have cast darkness across our land, intent on overwhelming goodness and respectable behavior. The reward this darkness seeks is to turn each one of us against the other.

Children of light, let us resolve to forgo browbeating at the behest of evil.

Coming of age as the son of immigrant parents, who chose life in America some 60 years ago to fulfill their yearning for life, liberty and opportunities to pursue happiness, colors my worldview. We strived to honor the history, ideals and customs of our new home and achieved citizenship. I felt duty-bound to help protect and preserve our family’s and Nation’s dreams and aspirations through thirty years of military service across four continents.

Extensive travels at home and abroad provided firsthand knowledge of humanity and shaped world-wise character attributes. I suffered the slings and arrows of the human condition, experienced and observed instances of inhumanity, oppression, racism, intolerance, hate and various forms of governance. On each return to American soil I thanked God to be back in our storied homeland.

Are we perfect in our journey and exercise of God-given rights enshrined by our founders in the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution? By no means--we are fallible, but remain humanity’s best hope for equality and dignity for our and the world’s citizenry.

Our country was founded by individuals not only escaping religious and social discrimination, as well as political persecution, but also families longing for economic mobility. Nevertheless history does repeat, no matter how those with political power try to disguise their dark motives in advancing control and submission of the populace. Must we as a Nation continue to endure such a sad and unnecessary state of affairs?

Each day voices from children of light grow stronger among God’s faithful and people of good will. Light inevitably gets the better of darkness. Let us strive to be brothers and sisters and work hand in hand to realize our inalienable rights for every citizen.

© Ilija Lukić 2020


                                         By The Dawn's Early Light

Spiritual Showdown

When evil rears its odious, dark mien,

A world enlightened must rise and decry

Its breath of darkness unleashed to demean

And slay good brethren causing hue and cry.

Soon throes of chaos grow beyond the pale,

Beset storekeepers in the early bright

Amid brume shrouding sorrow and travail,

Which stifles breath after malicious night.

I strive to fathom darkling atmosphere

Cast across heretofore undaunted realm

Like prophetic darkness out of yesteryear—

Plagues of locust hell-bent to overwhelm.

Become as little children, free of evil;

Denounce dark hearts and harmful upheaval.

© Ilija Lukić 2020

Light Triumphant

Hope Dawning

When chaos reigns I draw courage and inspiration from inner realms. Those parts of my nature where the divine spark resides, where creative ideas take root, where mind and spirit meld, where love reigns supreme and peace is the natural order of the world. These realms are not a refuge. They are gateways to decency in verbal expression, behavior and moral parameters. Here is where hope springs to mind, forgiveness dwells and I hold dear eternal truths that define my essence and way of life.

Want of peace plagues heart

Sunrise hush floods mortal coil

Hope springs eternal

© Ilija Lukić 2020

Ante Meridiem
(Sunrise in woodlands near Bynum NC USA)

Footnote Of History

Using righteous protests over the murder of an American citizen as cover, riotous hordes wreak havoc which tears at the fabric of America. They draw our attention, but how often do riots improve the lives of people? We see riots lead to injuries, death, destruction of property and arrests, yet frank assessment of tensions and underlying causes rarely if ever takes place. Solutions to quell the violence must include understanding that in the heat of the moment rioters are unappeasable. Most importantly, we must resolve to denounce and stop those who incite violence and exploit social tensions for political gain and power. Lest we keep repeating history.

It’s time to come together as brothers and sisters, lest we perish as a ship of fools subservient to ill-intentioned governance and media sowing discontent so as to have our passage on Earth amount to an insignificant footnote in history.

In order to move forward we must firmly acknowledge old grievances and pain, make a checklist of consensus remedies and immediately put words into action. Let’s write a new chapter in our story as a Nation aligned with ensuring our Great American Experiment proclaimed 244 years ago succeeds.

© Ilija Lukić 2020

Reveille
(Forest trail near Bynum NC USA)