Dream Weaver

Cast not aside mindful twilight thinkers,

Night owls who ruminate, burn midnight oil,

For life’s journey requires dream weavers

To help alleviate life’s mortal coil. 

© Ilija Lukić 2025

Dream Weaver

Self-portrait

Second Spring

Turning of leaves wakes memories of spring.

Surge of red hues and gay shades of amber

Encourage wracked hearts to one final fling,

Before Earth realms embrace winter slumber.

© Ilija Lukić 2025

Wistful Blues

Hydrangea

            Daughter Of Elysium
                Honeysuckle

Spring Fling

Pollinator garden at Pittsboro Market NC

Haunted Reverie

Lakeside reverie haunted by flashback

To elemental chaos wrought by storms,

Whose fearsome wake dropped telltale beach wrack—

Ephemeral art beneath insect swarms.

© Ilija Lukić 25

Two months after mid-July flash flooding—when lake waters rushed into shoreline woodlands before settling some ten feet above current levels—Mother Nature tries her best to settle into a laid-back autumn mood. The rust-colored tinge on trees left by muddy water bespeaks the high-water mark.

Haunted Reverie

Seaforth Peninsula on Jordan Lake NC

Wholeness Of Heart

When goodness and love seem scarce far and wide

And evil boastfully rears its head,

Let the better angels within us guide

Bold wholeness of heart as a nation, instead.

© Ilija Lukić 2025

A nation with a wholeness of heart, built on muddled perfection of shared values rooted in mutual respect and social cohesion, endures the test of time.

Muddled Perfection

Hostas in autumn regalia

Without Regret

Make time to pause at life’s rockbound river,

Turn heart and soul to mindful reverie,

Wade into what-ifs and might-have-beens…linger,

But, regret naught, in light of life’s brevity.

© Ilija Lukić 2025

Without Regret

Along Lower Haw River Trail near Bynum NC

Autumn In Waiting

As the sun briefly ducks behind loose cloud cover, filtered light helps to accentuate the warm hues of early autumn foliage along rocky banks and drought-weary flows of the Haw River near Bynum NC. A tell-tale russet coloration on vegetation next to the river course is a grim reminder of the muddy torrents of early summer floodwaters. The river surged some 25 feet above current levels, ripped century-old trees from their bouldered river bank perches and shaped new channels.

The river and its environs are a metaphor of life. I close eyes and open my heart to its teachings. Go with the flow it gurgles, persist in the face of inevitable change…for only a bold heart will successfully navigate life’s rapids.

© Ilija Lukić 2025

Autumn In Waiting

Haw River near Bynum NC

Illusory Tranquility

Our "100 Days of Summer" end in unhurried albeit illusory tranquility here in the Carolinas. Long, sweltering Dog Days of Summer have given way to near fall-like sunrise-to-sunset temperatures. Elderberry bushes are in full bloom and fill late summer airs with pleasant aromas. However, deepening drought conditions linger.

Vegetation is in survival mode and early leaf fall bespeaks dire conditions. Where early summer floodwaters on the Haw River wreaked havoc more than a month ago, rock-strewn riverbeds challenge meager flows.

© Ilija Lukić 2025

Unhurried Tranquility

Elderberry Splash

Rock-Ribbed Serenity

Haw River near Bynum NC

Heaven's Long Silence

While hot summer days take pause, hold their breath,

Parched trees survive on memories of rain.

Their thirsty pleas bemoan Earth’s dance of death

And pine for angel tears to end drought’s reign.

© Ilija Lukić 2025

Heaven's Long Silence

Jordan Lake NC (view from ranger station lookout)

Immortality

Immortality flows…by divine grace…

From essence muddled by a life well-lived.

Distilled by resolute human heart

And given wing into eternity

By man’s everlasting soul,

Our triumphs and backwash in pursuit

Of meaning and purpose in daily life

Become etched onto eternal pages

Of collective consciousness and legend.

In said timeless realm, in perpetuity,

Mortals realize immortality.

© Ilija Lukić 2025

Divine Grace

(photo-impressionism)

Vernal Awakening

Dogwood croons uncensored refrain,

Woodland chorus chimes in with zest,

Springtide spellbinds earthly domain—

Enchantment spilled at God’s behest. 

© Ilija Lukić 2025

Vernal Awakening

Path at Millbrook Pond in Powell Place, Pittsboro NC

Season Of Renewal

For the time being…Mother Nature throws hearts embarked on flights of fancy rapt in springtide nostalgia off balance, by insisting we take a joyride aboard her latest weather rollercoaster. Arctic airs and sweltering, summer-like embraces take turns in muddling the ebb and flow of our emotions.

It’s time to thrust aside any lingering solace of hiémal dreams—to stop hitting that late winter snooze button—and allow tides of the heart to lift living souls into another season of renewal.

© Ilija Lukić 2025

Spring regalia in our Powell Place neighborhood, Pittsboro NC

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