Taurus Moon

The magnificent constellation Taurus dominates late-November night skies in northern latitudes. Oral traditions and recorded mythologies of various religions and cultures continue to visualize the arrangement of constellation stars as a bull.

During my late-evening excursion, I easily identify its brightest star Aldebaran as the beast’s eye and shortly spot a twinkle in plain as day approval of other heavenly bodies moving across its domain. In my mind’s eye I join and feel kinship with people, who since time immemorial stood in awe of said starlit firmament and loosed imaginations in camp fire tales and more formal explanations of their cosmos.

Tonight the planet Venus and waxing gibbous Moon move in tandem across Taurus’ starlit realm. The Taurus Moon sets wisps of clouds aglow and kindles whispered tales of mystery and intrigue among pines, tree skeletons and die-hard autumn foliage.

© Ilija Lukić 2023

Taurus Moon

Alternate Reality

Mortal hearts disregard reason

When mind transcends reality,

‘Cause lying eyes shun naked truth

And feed lost sheep duplicity.

© Ilija Lukić 2023

Alternate Reality

(Parallel worlds on Millbrook Pond, photo-impressionism)

Spiral Of Life

Every time I make a breakthrough in physical, mental or spiritual development, my ride on the allegorical yet ever-present wave known as the spiral of life returns my inquisitive self to significant waypoints in my life story. Said stopover permits my heart to reexamine long-held convictions and walk away with fresh takes on universal truths as well as beliefs ingrained on the first go-round.

© Ilija Lukić 2023

Spiral Of Life

Autumnal Peace Of Mind

Brisk autumn winds augur mindful change.

Their fresh breath billows spiritual sails.

Just as vibrant hush warms woods on chill home range,

Said serenity eases life’s travails.

© Ilija Lukić 2023

Autumnal Peace Of Mind

Autumn Swan Song

Fast days of summer free of tedium

Lie heaped upon life’s bodacious scrapheap.

Slow and lyrical moods of late autumn

Prepare heart and mind for winter’s long sleep.

© Ilija Lukić 2023

Mankind’s finest efforts to control rhythms of life invariably find that our essence inextricably intertwines with and mirrors the seasons of the natural world.

Autumn Swan Song

(Seaforth Peninsula on Jordan Lake NC)

Amicable Phantoms

On warm autumn days with nary a breeze disturbing the stillness of picturesque Jordan Lake environs, late afternoon strolls down sandy shorelines encourage willing hearts to commune with amicable phantoms of the lake.

Persistent lack of rain favors liberating large swathes of land—along with tangible and ethereal echoes of the past—from the benevolent comforts of said watery realm. In many places exposed sand banks lure fishers as well as water fowl and shape new shorelines with secluded coves and treed spits of land. The shore now extends as much as one hundred yards into former lake boundaries. Relics and remembrances of farms, homesteads and lives uprooted by flooding the New Hope Valley to fill the reservoir four decades ago lie exposed to wind and sun once more. Their revenant whispers carried by autumn breezes haunt adventurers on quests for relics and casual passersby alike.

© Ilija Lukić 2023

Revenant Whispers

(Self-portrait, Ilija)

Magnum Opus

Autumn days seem gone in a heartbeat and increasingly yield to frigid temperatures by nightfall. Fallen leaves litter landscapes and tree skeletons take center stage in tree lines. In the final days of Indian Summer, scores of diehard tree canopies resist leaf fall and strut their defiance in warm and glowing feasts for the senses.

© Ilija Lukić 2023

Magnum Opus

(Seaforth Peninsula on Jordan Lake NC)

Winds Of Change

When wanton winds

Harass our lives,

Should we bend knee

And kowtow to their rule

Or hold dear in our heart of hearts

God-given, inalienable truths

That strike sonorous note

In bold defiance of upheaval—

Lest we forget...

Who we Americans innately are?

© Ilija Lukić 2023

In defiance of drought and receding water levels, shoreline aquatic reeds and grasses at Jordan Lake dance joyously on exposed sand banks to merciless tunes of brisk autumn winds.

Winds Of Change

(photo impressionism)

Divine Rhapsodies

Meandering walks along lake shorelines encourage the soul to indulge in blessings of the natural world. Said clearly mellow escapades, given half a chance, go far towards absolving one’s troubled heart and mind of meaningless anxiety that unwittingly slows indispensable spiritual endeavors.

© Ilija Lukić 2023

Divine Rhapsody

(Seaforth Peninsula Spit on Jordan Lake NC)

Mystical Brume

Lake rests silently

Winter’s breath sets lake mists free

Treed shore welcomes brume

© Ilija Lukić 2023

Mystical Brume

(Cooper's Cove at Seaforth Peninsula on Jordan Lake NC)

Indian Summer

Summer-weary flesh longs for restful chaise

And asks the spirit to collaborate,

While Indian Summer airs avert malaise

And inspire bold change of heart, checkmate.

© Ilija Lukić 2023

Our latest dry spell and a forecast of week-long, unseasonable daytime highs touching the 80-degree mark usher Indian summer into the eastern reaches of the Piedmont Plateau in the Carolinas.

Indian Summer

(At home in Powell Place, Pittsboro NC)

Snooze Button

Now and then push daily grind’s snooze button!

Each season of life speaks well of said repose

To cold-shoulder one’s inner, blue funk glutton

And keep at bay heart and soul’s dreaded throes.

© Ilija Lukić 2023

Mellow Promenade

(Cooper's Cove at Jordan Lake NC)

Striking Pianissimo

Plumed songstress holds court

Locals pause with bated breath

Silence speaks volumes

© Ilija Lukić 2023

Striking Pianissimo

(Cortadera selloana aka Pampas Grass plumes)

Pillars Of Creation

From time immemorial, humans have held trees in high regard as conduits between the temporal and spirit world—they link Heaven and Earth. By dint of divine life force within their ageless stateliness, solitary giants as well as those kept company in treed landscapes downplay troubled life blues and soothe mortal coil. Life quickened with renewed passion makes the heart sing.

© Ilija Lukić 2023

Pillars Of Creation

(Cooper's Cove on Seaforth Peninsula at Jordan Lake NC)

Chronon - A Quantum Of Time

Rooted in the human heart is the yearning to leave footprints in the sands of time. On a recent meander down Jordan Lake shorelines, my shadow encounters a unique and discrete moment in time--a chronon given temporal expression by fleeting alluvium patterns of oxidized sand. I pause and muse...let my shadow be the footprint I leave upon our natural world.

© Ilija Lukić 2023

Chronon - A Quantum Of Time

(self-portrait)

Armageddon

Evil lurks in odious muck, hatred by name,
And thrives when hearts turn to darkness within.
Yet wellsprings of love, no matter how scattered,
Prevail in the end to the Dark Lord’s chagrin.

© Ilija Lukić 2023

Once again ram’s horns echo across the valleys near the har Megid’do and call armies of goodness to battle. Predictably long sighs of sadness and piercing cries of pain and suffering follow, but when all is said and done goodness and noble souls rooted in truth, freedom and dignity will surely prevail.

Nobility Of Spirit

(Cooper's Cove at Jordan Lake NC)

Empyrean Light

Moon beams cosmic truths

Streetlights emulate Moon’s passion

Life makes sense once more

© Ilija Lukić 2023

Moonlit celestial spheres and earthbound brightening of mist-laden autumn nights encourage bold steps in the eternal human quest for the source of spiritual light.

Empyrean Light

Ides Of October

Field and stream raise melodies of autumn.

Summer rests her repute on laurels earned,

When sunlit moods kept hearts off rock bottom

And dances with gloom were with ease unlearned.

Tired old Moon paints summer’s eulogy

Across thin clouds in starlit firmament,

While earthbound allures postpone glum elegy—

For summer’s end does not deserve lament.

Much as I brace for bouts with winter blues,

Summer signs off with brightly flowered flourish

And woodland holds back motley blaze of hues

That, come rain or shine, my heart does cherish.

Autumn draws nigh and lays bare heart of gold;

Said purity once roused grows bliss hundredfold.

© Ilija Lukić 2023

Seasons come and go. As summer cedes dominion and exits stage left, her swan song emboldens woodland artistry to transition to early autumn hues. Said gentle yo-yo rides tug at heartstrings, lighten moods and encourage mortals to muse.

Ides Of October

(Pond Trail at Seaforth Peninsula on Jordan Lake NC)

Paragon Of Serenity

While waning Moon paints Summer’s eulogy

Across thin clouds in starlit firmament,

Earthbound allure postpones glum elegy

For summer’s end does not deserve lament.

© Ilija Lukić 2023

Paragon Of Serenity

(Pond Trail on Seaforth Peninsula at Jordan Lake NC)

Human Nature

Flesh wrestles with doubt

Hearts plead, slow the wheel of time...

Life is short, be bold

© Ilija Lukić 2023

One of my retreats where time slows and nature spills wisdom…a place where answers to eternal questions about human nature often drop anchor after mindful leaps of faith.

Mindfulness Realized

(Seaforth Peninsula on Jordan Lake NC)