Serenity Unchained

Hearts covet serenity
River bestows venerable counsel
Heron wades carefree

© Ilija Lukić 2016

Calliope's Chair
(Haw River east of Bynum North Carolina near Pokeberry Creek)

River Drifter

Ivy League Education

Serenity Unchained

Shadow Dancers

January Reverie

First snows of the season leave a dusting across Haw River environs. Winter slumber tightens its grip on the rocky river channel and sandy banks which a month ago suffered the onslaught of flood water.

© Ilija Lukić 2016

First Snow

Light Passages

Winter Soliloquy

Winter Reverie

First Love

She comes to me in silence.

Her caress comforts and excites.

Fantasy and reality become one

And first love wraps two hearts

Deep into tender hues of affection.

©  Ilija Lukić 2016

First Love
(photo-impressionism)

Spirit World

Our unusually mild winter persists. Late in the day calls of the wild prove irresistible. I strike out in search of sensory and spiritual learning. Afternoon temperatures hover in the fifties. A brief burst of sunshine on an otherwise cloudy day lights up leaf and moss-covered woodland slopes along my trail. Bare Mockernut Hickory canopies and clusters of Long-leaf Pine capture whispers of wind and spirits of yesteryear.

Trees are conduits between the temporal and spirit world. They link cast away threads of time through mystical forces of nature to present-day human experience. This is why we humans have held trees in high regard since memories began. It's only recently these ancient memories of their power have faded. I take a breathing spell, listen to their wisdom and allow my heart to ponder their poetry of spirit.

© Ilija Lukić 2016

Spirit World

Silent Vigil

Mockernut Cache

Winter Lights

Poésie De La Lumière - Poetry Of Light

Wasserwelt (Water World)

Seemingly endless days of rain give way to sunshine. Overnight lows in the twenties and daytime highs in the forties help dry out soggy lands. Controlled releases of Lake Jordan into the Cape Fear River Basin lower water levels five feet and open a few lake access roads. Late afternoon I venture to several favorite scenic locations and find the lake still extends significantly into shoreline woodlands. Waning daylight adds magical touches to the water-logged forest.

Daylight wanes on shimmering lake waters,

Liquid solace spills into flood-ravaged lands,

Cathedrals of pine dance in fluid reflections,

God’s in the pines, peace reigns in the world.

© Ilija Lukić 2016

Wasserwelt
(Water world east of Pittsboro, North Carolina USA)

Affairs Of The Heart

While sunset gives affectionate caresses

And adorns her body with silvery blush,

She lures her beloved with dulcet passion

And whispers of eternity in silken embrace.

Spellbound my captive heart spills poetry,

Sets words of love adrift on winter breeze,

Invites her essence to quench my desires,

Alas, affairs of the heart are hard to resist.

© Ilija Lukić 2016

Silvery Blush
(Haw River north of Pittsboro, North Carolina USA)

Honeyed Passion

Winter Breeze

Affair Of The Heart

Elegy In St Bartholomew's Churchyard

Solemn stillness fills shadowed airs at God’s acre,

Where mortal toil rests in timeless blessedness,

Where each gravestone declares devoted surrender

Of divine soul to God's eternal grace and caress. 

© Ilija Lukić 2016

Elegy In St Bartholomew's Churchyard
(Pittsboro, North Carolina USA)

St Bartholomew's
(Episcopalian church in Pittsboro, North Carolina USA, built circa 1832)

Tawny Delights

Rain continues across the Piedmont Plateau of North Carolina. Weather prognosticators talk of several inches more headed our way. Near evening brief breaks in downpours provide opportunities to seek out aesthetic aftermath amid the chaos and destruction wreaked by flooding. Camera in hand I head towards the village of Bynum. In many places the Haw River already tops its banks. Our red clay soil turns water into creamy ripples of cocoa. I pause at river’s edge spellbound how the warm afterglow of sunset intensifies the liquid hues. At nightfall I meander towards the village. The Old Bynum General Store sits just up the hill from the river. Regaled in Christmas decor it shrugs off the elements as it has for decades.

© Ilija Lukić 2015

Tawny Delight

Blue-Eyed Beauty

Old Bynum General Store

Balmy Christmas Repose

Christmas morning awakens to warm sunrise hues. Careful attention to whispers of breezes reveals muffled squeals of delight and laughter throughout homes in city neighborhoods as children discover treasures left under festive Christmas trees by Santa Claus. A day of merriment and family gatherings follows.

Sundown finds Pittsboro main street stores buttoned up and all thoroughfares quiet. Nary a soul is afoot. The old courthouse positioned on our city's central roundabout dominates views on approaches from each cardinal direction. Chatham County dates to the 1770s and Pittsboro named for William Pitt the Younger, son of the 1st Earl of Chatham, to 1785. In front of the courthouse Old Glory waves majestically in balmy southerly breezes.

An El Niño-inspired weather pattern continues to funnel atypical December humidity, rain and 70-degree temperatures across the Piedmont Plateau of the Carolinas. I take a moment and reflect on the birth of Christ, our history and slower-paced days of yore. A feeling of peace on earth and good will fills heart and mind. Tomorrow the hustle and bustle of modern America returns.

© Ilija Lukić 2015

Christmas Morning On Cobble Ridge
(Pittsboro, North Carolina)

Christmas Sunset
(Historical Chatham County Courthouse in Pittsboro, North Carolina USA

Balmy Winter Repose
(Main Street in Pittsboro, North Carolina)

The Ides Of December

While on an outing to capture early winter sunset panoramas from the Old Bynum Bridge, I stop and take a trip down memory lane. Echoes of purposeful footfalls by workers headed to the Odell cotton mill and farmers rumbling grain wagons to the riverside grist mill linger. The captivating rush of the Haw River below soothes the din of the hustle and bustle. A timeworn cotton mill race endures as a slowly moving reflecting pool. Defiant albeit worse for wear the gray lady stands lost in dreams of glory days.

Built in 1922 to replace a covered wooden bridge inadequate for automobile traffic, her 800-foot span stands a lane and a half wide by modern standards. In her day the bridge is a major north-south connector in the Piedmont Plateau area of North Carolina. Since 1999 the bridge serves foot traffic across the rock-strewn waters of the Haw.

Weather and the Haw River take their physical toll over 93 years. But of late the unthinking onslaught of graffiti defiles her personality. An old-timer walking the bridge stops to chat. His heart aches over the willful disregard of respect for the aged gray lady.

© Ilija Lukić 2015

The Ides Of December 

The Yin And The Yang 

Last Gasp Of Autumn

Ghosts Of Bynum

(Abandoned post office and general store) 

First Day Of Winter

Through A Glass Darkly

Grains of stardust quicken rain drops,

Give life to mirrors in puddles of regret,

Abet visions through such glass darkly

Until face to face with remedies within.

© Ilija Lukić 2015

Through A Glass Darkly
(Mary Barber Park north of Pittsboro, North Carolina)

Day's End Reverie

Autumn mists caress her wildness,

Her woodland skeletons in reverie

And usher in most unexpectedly

A contemplative, gentle sojourn 

Into the perfect dying of her light.

© Ilija Lukić 2015

Day's End Reverie
(Woodlands just north of Pittsboro, North Carolina USA)

Foggy Daydreams
(Mary Barber Park north of Pittsboro, North Carolina)

Reflections On Immortality

Lucent earth shadow brings to pass

A waxing crescent of autumn Moon,

While spent leaves fulfill their destiny

With silent barrage of wooded slopes.

I lend ear to wind in quiet sway of pines.

He whispers of eternity unbound by creed

And of endless songs ‘bout natural worlds

Confided in sublime patchworks of poetry.

Alas, my heart denies wind’s admonitions

And reminders of immortality posthaste,

Until starlit skies invite my immortal soul

Into the dawn of time and universe untold.

© Ilija Lukić 2015

Old Rock Springs Church
(Just north of Pittsboro, North Carolina USA)

Light Catcher

Preaching To The Choir

Autumn

every autumn leaf

a keepsake of summer bliss

every waterfall

a cascade of hopes and dreams

every rain drop

a wellspring of divine inspiration

every river pebble

a portal to cosmic consciousness

every heart beat

a bestowal of grace by God

© Ilija Lukić 2015

Autumn Reverie

Shadowless Silence

Rain over the Southern Piedmont Plateau continues and keeps us homebound. The moisture spills rich hues into Mother Nature's autumn colorama. When Heaven’s tears ease to a mizzle Cooper and I brave the elements. We let loose hearts and sluggish limbs on sodden woodland trails.

Morning mists drift in shadowless silence,

Galaxies of leaves brighten wildwood moods,

Autumn takes time to mellow summer bedlam

Till winter’s breath quiets forest neighborhoods.

© Ilija Lukić 2015

Forest Neighborhood
(Powell Place woodlands in Pittsboro, North Carolina USA)

Shadowless Silence

Wildwood Moods

American Beautyberry

(Callicarpa americana aka Bunchberry, Sourbush and French Mulberry)

Mellow Bedlam

Pebble In The River Of Life

Sand flows and pebble arrays along river beds in the wake of torrential downpours add allegory to the beauty of waterways. Individual pebbles seem unremarkable. But, what of their odyssey? Jolted from their day-to-day existence they tumble about helter-skelter in watery suspension of kindred particles. Every collision, graze, rub or nudge alters their essence until they find purpose among elegant masterpieces of time and saltation in harmony with the stream. I pause to reflect. I am a pebble in the river of life.

© Ilija Lukić 2015

Pebbles

River Songs

Darkening skies herald autumn rains

Celestial tears urge farewell to summer

River songs seek embraces by the sea
Serenity gives pause to qualms of winter

© Ilija Lukić 2015

River Songs
(Haw River east of Pittsboro, North Carolina USA)

Autumn Moods

Unchained Serenity

Autumn Moods On The Haw

© Ilija Lukić 2015

Haw River
(North of Pittsboro, North Carolina USA)

First Blush Of Autumn
(Haw River north of Pittsboro, North Carolina USA)

Night Rise

While a fiery high plains sunset scribes poetry across the Staked Plain north of Clovis, New Mexico, night rises soothingly across the eastern horizon and readies comfort for the parched tablelands.

Daylight bids farewell
Night rises onto boundless plain
Meadowlark sings lullabies

© Ilija Lukić 2015

Night Rise

Joaquín

As Hurricane Joaquín inches north along our Southeast Seaboard, the storm spins rain bands into the Carolinas and our neck of the woods. Flash flood warnings are up. The rain dampens splashes of autumn color yet encourages romps into the autumn woods. Wonder if my canine pal Cooper is up for a jaunt in the rain? Why not whispers the kid residing within my heart.

By mid-afternoon Cooper and I cannot resist the siren call of wet woodlands. With camera stuffed under rain gear I traipse down muddy paths while Cooper enjoys a flurry of squirrel chases. A headlong charge into his favorite open field breaks up a horde of crows. Not to be outdone the latter gather in nearby tree canopies and noisily denounce his intrusion into their afternoon smorgasbord of earthworms.

Wind-driven rain makes photography impossible. The cover of forest is a blessing until a squall unloads water from its foliage umbrella. Tree branches and a kaleidoscope of autumn leaves litter the forest floor. In the hush of woodlands the deluge resembles echoes of a distant waterfall.

Exuberant albeit wet we head home in time for Cooper's afternoon meal and a snack of pickled herring in wine sauce for me.

© Ilija Lukić 2015