The Escaped Mystery: The Poetry of Momcilo Nastasijevic

Chapter 4. The cycle Večernje from the Pet lirskih krugova

Chapter Four The Cycle Večernje from the Pet lirskih krugova* This second cycle of the poet’s Pet lirskih krugova (Five Lyrical Cycles) is linked to his previous one, Jutarnje, both formalistically and thematically. The title itself is suggestive; evening following morning. It also consists of nine poems, exactly balancing Jutarnje. The tone and imagery have, however, changed somewhat, as will be seen. Moreover, the verse structure continues that in the last poems of Jutarnje. There are no conventional poems such as “Jasike.” Whereas in Jutarnje, beginning as it does with “Frula,” the appeal is to sound, in this cycle the appeal is largely to color and the eye, although not exclusively. Rhyme plays a role in the poems, yet the rhythm and structure are still dominantly accentual. Nonetheless the thematic relationship of this cycle to the foregoing is clear immediately in the first poem, with its variation: Liljani Topi se dan. Po zlatnom odru device mru, dragane bolu, sestre moje mile. Putuju nasmehnute za nečim što su snile. Sâm ja. Tople poniru reke. Mirišu na ljiljane što precvetali lane. Sama zgažena biljka zlatan otvara cvet iz ožiljka. The Lilies The day melts away. On a golden bier, the maidens die, The beloved of pain, My dear sisters. They journey, smiling, After something they’ve dreamt. I alone. Warm rivers plunge. They’ve the scent of the lilies That faded last year. Of itself the trampled plant Opens a golden flower From a scar. * Published in Serbian Studies 1: 3 (Fall 1981): 31–51. 64 THE ESCAPED MYSTERY Šta li se njima snilo, pa teku nasmehnute u tamni dol? Sâm ja. Nastajem čudno iz ovog nestajanja, snom te dublje me sve budi. Sama zgažena biljka zlatan otvara cvet iz ožiljka. What is it they’ve dreamt, That they flow smiling Into the dark valley? I alone. Strangely, I arise From out this disappearance And by sleep I am ever more profoundly awakened. Of itself the trampled plant Opens a golden flower From a scar. The temptation to see octosyllabics and conventional meter has surely gone. These lines have predominantly seven or fewer syllables. The poem is, however , held together by rhyme. The first two stanzas are linked by the rhyme mile–snile. There are also suggested half-rhymes of odru, mru, and bolu. In the third stanza there is the couplet ljiljane–lane. The fourth stanza is based upon the rhyme biljka–ožiljka. The rhythm, however, is purely accentual. Thus, the line “Sâm ja,” more nearly a spondee in Serbian even than the similar line from “Izvoru,” is rhythmically equal to much longer lines. Accentual rhythm does not exclude rhyme but rather employs it as a binding factor. Again, typical of Jutarnje, there is the device of framing (“Sama zgažena biljka,” etc.). Such usage of framing may relate more directly to Dis than to Baudelaire. The thematic and imagistic links with Jutarnje are impressive. There is a contrast in that there is no appeal to sound, as in “Frula.” Rather, the poem counterpoints several poems from the earlier cycle. The title “Ljiljani” in the nominative recalls the second poem of Jutarnje, “Jasike.” Yet there is a variation . Flowers have replaced trees, and lilies aspens. Whereas the aspens were viewed as being outside of the poet’s subjective, with their heads bending one to another as they whispered the mystery, the lilies now are addressed as the poet’s sisters. The note of the whole cycle has been struck immediately. The final poem will be to the poet’s dead sister! Nor do the lilies sustain an immunity from suffering, as do the aspens; they are the sisters of pain, as well as of the poet. The warm rivers that plunge link with the lilies that flow. Water becomes increasingly the symbol of the life process. As such, a process that the tople reke bear has faded the scent of last year’s lilies. It is a process of death as well as of life. The mystery is still definitely present. The question remains, as in earlier poems, why do they flow smiling into the dark valley? They do not appear to suffer, yet they are the sisters of pain, and they belong to the The Cycle Večernje from the Pet lirskih krugova 65 suffering that is also life. From such a process the speaker, the...