Sarajevo
Andrea Damic
This poem was inspired by Edna St. Vincent Millay’s poem ‘I shall go back again to the bleak shore’. This poem is an ode to my hometown and my roots.
I shall go back again
across the mountains and dark blue seas
to the place of my youthful innocence
where it all began, on the precipice
of my past and future
unknown to me at the time.
I shall go back again
to the valley of Miljacka River
at the foot of Mount Trebević
surrounded by Dinaric Alps
to a city once called the ‘Jerusalem of Europe’
where diverse worlds and cultures collide
where one can hear the sounds of
church bells, synagogue music and adhan
emanating across the same neighbourhood,
to the city where myriad faiths and beliefs are displayed.
I shall be gone to what I know and understand - one day
to make peace with what was extirpated
in the hope of finding that one un-sung corner
unaffected by time from what it was when I was a child.
I shall go back again
across the mountains and dark blue seas
to the place of my youthful innocence
where it all began, on the precipice
of my past and future
unknown to me at the time.
I shall go back again
to the valley of Miljacka River
at the foot of Mount Trebević
surrounded by Dinaric Alps
to a city once called the ‘Jerusalem of Europe’
where diverse worlds and cultures collide
where one can hear the sounds of
church bells, synagogue music and adhan
emanating across the same neighbourhood,
to the city where myriad faiths and beliefs are displayed.
I shall be gone to what I know and understand - one day
to make peace with what was extirpated
in the hope of finding that one un-sung corner
unaffected by time from what it was when I was a child.
Andrea Damic, born in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina, is an artist and writer living in Sydney, Australia. She thinks there’s something cathartic about seeing your words and art out in the world. You can see her work on her website: https://damicandrea.wordpress.com
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