Heaven's Gate

A weathered cross with several embedded Chrysocolla stones graces a quiet corner of the San José de Gracia churchyard in Las Trampas, New Mexico. It appears vandals desecrated this modest expression of faith, love and remembrance by removing the center gemstone. I ponder what is on the minds and in the hearts of friends and family, when they consecrated this Earthly remembrance of their loved one years ago.

Known throughout the world, mystics and healers ascribe properties to Chrysocolla which influence communication, wisdom, emotional bonds, creativity, business sense, achieving balance in life and taming wanderlust. It's a talisman of musicians. Blue-green specimens found in Israel are known as the "King Solomon Stone" and valued as the National Stone.

© Ilija Lukić 2020

Heaven's Gate
(Grave marker in San José de Gracia churchyard in Las Trampas NM USA)

Heavenly Grace

Divine clay lies at rest

Soul ascends Jacob’s ladder

God heals grieving hearts

© Ilija Lukić 2020

Eternal Rest
(Churchyard at Santuario San José de Gracia in Las Trampas NM USA)

Light Of Life

Anguished soul yearns for everlasting bliss

By way of divine breath, mid mortal toil,

Removing doubt and despair’s dark abyss

Blessed by the Light of Life to shed turmoil.

© Ilija Lukić 2020

Invitation To Prayer
(San José de Gracia Catholic Church in Las Trampas, New Mexico USA)

Light Everlasting

While February weather discourages outdoor activities, I reminisce about a sojourn with a friend. Our passage is the meandering High Road to Taos, New Mexico. At Las Trampas the Santuario San José de Gracia, a humble Spanish Colonial adobe edifice once known as Santuario Santo Tomás del Rio de las Trampas invites respite...we stop. 

The santuario is one of the best preserved examples of Spanish Colonial Mission architecture in New Mexico. Over the main entry door into the nave is a centered relief carving of a cherub and inscription which spans the width of the door. The carved inscription "D MANO D NICOlaS d APOdaCA"(by the hand of Nicolás de Apodaca) is a curious mix of upper and lower case letters.

Nicolás is surely a descendant of Diego González de Apodaca, a soldier who escorted Governor Don Alonso de Pacheco de Herédia from Mexico City to Santa Fe in December 1641. Memorialized by the inscription in the door lintel, I presume Nicolás is the artisan who crafted the entry around 1780.

In mind's eye I wander the walled church grounds, touch the weathered wood at the main entry and run my hands across the coarse texture of protruding straw fortifier in the stucco layered upon its adobe bones. My imagination ignites and I wonder what might have been. This grand old sanctuary holds stories of joyous celebrations and sorrowful dirges, weddings, baptisms and funerals. The 1780s church is on the National Historic Landmark register.

© Ilija Lukić 2020

Everlasting Light
(Santuario San José de Gracia in Las Trampas, New Mexico USA)

Stardust Whispers

Dayspring mists bear dawn

Stardust whispers lighten heart

Breath of life frees soul

© Ilija Lukić 2020

Stardust Whispers
(Lake Jordan, North Carolina - photo impressionism)

Winter's Wraith

Winter's wraith sighs mist

Gelid stream chills break of day

Wild things bear the brunt

© Ilija Lukić 2020

Winter's Wraith
(Haw River near confluence with Jordan Lake, North Carolina USA)

Life Is Bliss

Life’s twined path weights heart

Bemused spirit needs easement

Real world lays bare bliss

© Ilija Lukić 2020

Sodden Bliss

Harmony

Calm lake stirs desire

Peaceful woodlands uplift soul

Untroubled heart soars

© Ilija Lukić 2020

Harmony
(Lake Jordan at Cooper's Cove)

Heavenly Music

Mellow muse haunts meandering lakeshore,

Makes known her presence in sunlit dance

Among pine boughs, now and forevermore,

As dreamscape stillness quiets lake expanse.

She prevails upon wintertime’s cold guest,

To take the edge off frost-bound harmony

And concede such respite helps to manifest

Music of the universe most perfectly.

Take notice mortal heart and soul divine,

Blessedness and glimpse of life eternal

Reside in nature’s breath at lakeside shrine

And artful nave of woodland cathedral.

Heavenly music sustains bliss and makes whole

Throes of life astride the human heart and soul.

© Ilija Lukić 2020

January Thaw

Lakeside Shrine
(At Cooper's Cove on Jordan Lake NC USA)

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)