Tuesday 20 December 2022

Happy New Year

 Happy New Year 


How I wish that it will be happy, at least happier than 2022! Oh 2022, what a year! I have to admit that I hated this year. It was a year full of stagnation, and one has to try staying numb watching the days and weeks pass by without doing anything to understand how painful stagnation is, how sad, how bitter, how humiliating stagnation is. 


Here I am, sitting like a rusty old wreck, trying to put on my usual worn out smile, throw a few sarcastic comments to continue my role as the cheerful clown. But even professional clowns get drained, fail to keep smiling, hate the eco of their fake laughs and just want to hide for a few decades. 


No new year resolutions. No optimistic plans and no enthusiastic declarations. I will keep gliding, hopefully I can. I told you, there are no plans, but still a faint hope of survival, or a dignified end. As a natural born quitter I have always dreamt of dramatic ends. I believed that I am entitled to have such closure to this phase of my life, or to this life. Entitled? Am I even entitled to anything? Entitled or not, this is a big question that lingered in my head for so long. Are we really entitled to be and to have? Then we are destined to fight for our dreams and hopes. Or aren’t we entitled at all and thus we should be grateful for every breath and bite that keep us alive. Alive? There is a legendary secret about life, and unfortunately I know how to keep myself distracted to avoid questioning myself. How many (I)s did I write till now? May be this is the real problem? My obsession of (I), (me) and (myself). May be it’s not an obsession but a sense of shame, (I) let (me) down, more than I can count or recall. Throughout the previous decades I have been carrying huge relics of my failures, and believe me they are heavy. 


Am I bitter? How I wish? I’m beyond bitterness, seeing myself being pulled away from the good days, the cheerful gatherings and the naïve excitements. I was told that I just don’t know how to be thankful to god, I have a problem with gratitude they said. With no energy or will to argue, I shook my shoulders and murmured something that sounded as if I was convinced. 


Can’t deny that I tried to resurrect myself every single morning. I look at the mirror, greet the Sisyphus tangled within me, and start the day. Art saved me, I have to confess, at least helped me to survive. I dove in different realms, more colorful, more vibrant and even more humane. Melodies of old songs, eloquent dialogue in a novel or even an intricate pattern all fill me with profound joy. I feel lighter, happier as if I’m the only one capable of connecting to such mysterious talents. 


Happy New Year they say, and Happy New Me I say, I wish and devoutly pray. 

Thursday 3 November 2022

And what is love ?



Who knows? But let me try to understand it or at least talk about it. Love….. I used to say among my loud laughs, “ if you smile as soon as you remember someone then that’s love”. Ok, May be that was a relevant definition at some point. When life was simple and to be honest, I was always smiling back then. So what is love? I won’t mention the butterflies in my stomach, ha ha. And I won’t also mention the sudden bitter tears that used to intrude into my quiet moments in the most unexpected ways. 

Longing! May be longing is easier to describe. Longing simply means that I miss living and reliving specific moments with someone, the laughs, the songs, the excitement and the care. Care? Love is care! May be. I feel lost, caring as a feeling is there, of course caring is one of the main ingredients of that magical recipe that people naively call love. However caring always seeps away, it does this gradually as it is replaced by the humiliating fact that we became for granted or that, simply we are done with that “love” phase. 

People always speak about the pain of love, I agree, it painful, severely painful. It is elusive, once you feel it, it fades quickly to leave you with memories of exaggerated happiness and pleasure. 


May be that what it really is, a mirage, an illusion or even a mere dream that we try to create for some time, a few moments, or days or years. May be we have to appreciate these random feelings, cherish them and pray to enjoy the taste of love once more. 

Sunday 30 October 2022

Hannibal


 Hannibal


Once upon a time in the great city of Carthage, it was believed that the gods were walking leisurely along the coast. Fascinated by the city and its palaces, the green mountains surrounding it and the happiness and joy of its people, they exchanged statements of praise. These eloquent phrases annoyed one of the gods, who apparently was bad tempered on that sunny day. He stopped, faced his divine companions and screamed in anger, “I’ll curse all the men of Carthage from this day till the end of time”. shocked by such unexpected wrath, they all quickly tried to bestow blessings and save the innocent city and its people. One god gifted them with courage, another gave them wisdom, a goddess was generous and granted them beauty and charm. Gods kept offering the Carthaginians with all the great deeds, but apparently the curse was strong and effective. It was destined for every son of that beautiful city to carry his huge share of blessings and yet he had to bear a faint trace of the eternal curse.

I met Hannibal, not the famous Hannibal, not the one who dragged the African Elephants to the Italian Alps. I met Hannibal, a handsome man with sharp smart eyes, a perfect Roman nose and a magical wide smile. Sitting nonchalantly like the king of all kings staring at the horizon in that balmy night. I came closer, saluted him timidly. His eyes were radiating with confidence, joy and mystery. I stuttered while he was calmly drowning me in an ocean of questions, assumptions and accusations. His face with glowing with a charismatic flair as I was becoming a bit tense, no, not a bit, I was starting to panic. Then Hannibal smiled, paused, starred at my eyes and asked, “Who are you?”.

A thousand and one graves suddenly opened in my soul, and all the sadness seeped. Numbed by unbearable pain, how could I answer that Carthaginian hero, or even hide my tears. Surprised by my agony, weakness and despair, he looked at me closely, and with a caring voice, he asked about my story. Throughout Hannibal’s dark eyes I saw a lifetime of joy, love and success, all far away, all in distant lands, and unfortunately all in previous years. Egoistic or rational, he was honest and blunt. Read my fortune, knew what will I face and simply understood the pain. Before uttering a word, he shushed me and stood up, walked and told me to follow. We walked in silence. I followed him obediently, till he stopped, faced me and said in the saddest tone,” it will never work….” He sighed bitterly and said, “believe me, it will never work”. The stars died as his words echoed in a murky sky, I gasped, escaping a bitter taste of the color yellow and trembled as he moved away.

“Hannibal…please wait” these words were never heard, these words were never said.

 

 

Friday 16 September 2022

The journey


 I needed the journey 

I missed the road


The feeling of being lost, totally lost….

In these few days, my looks wont matter, my obligations can be forgotten, my worries and fears will give me a break, May be even my ego will dwarf a little bit. 


I’m there, totally there…..

Immersed in the moment, passing along the paths that were carved by thousands and thousands of travelers. 

My breaths merge with theirs, and my tiny stories find their place in the huge and rich mosaic of all the passers by


Lonely? Never alone? Not even a single moment. I carry my beloved with me, they guard me, I even see their faces reflected on other people, the strangers whom we will never meet again. 


I needed the journey

I missed the road 

I longed to meet me again