Any city anytime anywhere

The only thing you will be sure of is the voice
That voice – that familiar precious voice
The voice that no longer gasps in the breeze [squalls]
But whispers already within your inner self

On this day
Most unusual day for this time of year
At a time when you were not even supposed to be
In Valjevo
A city into which you had strayed
As the lost and perfect stranger
This city of all cities
Of which you know nothing
In which you know no one
Neither the city nor the Woman
Vera Pavladoljska
Unaware that the greatest of strangers
Will find here – of all places
The greatest love

So when you arrive tardy
At an unknown place – a city or a town
Late at night, very late, well past midnight perhaps
As such is your journey
And such is the city you’ve stumbled upon
The World will become one unison and uniform
And colossal remembrance
An eternal memory
Of her – and only Her
And from that moment on
Not a single remote earthly place
City, village, hamlet or town
Will ever be without her

She will always be there – for you
Forever, whenever and everywhere
Waiting – for you

No earthly mirror will ever reflect your image
Without her visage within – staring !
Staring back, staring at you
And there will never ever be a curl
Or a ripple of blonde hair
That will not be her own...
There will never ever be a cloud
Without the silver lining of her smile

That World, and you,
Will forever remember the celestial expanses
And the earthly massifs
And the mountain streams
That look exactly the way she looked
The very first time you ever laid your eyes upon her
In some remote, strange, city, village, hamlet or town
Such as Valjevo for example

In Valjevo indeed
On Karadjordje Street
Right between the main Post Office and the Courthouse
[the Earth’s Palace of Justice]

And here comes that time of the year again
That time of your age
That age of your life
When all women of the world become Her
Are Her
When all the women of the world bear her image
Like a mosaic of a thousand divine faces
With each and every one of them portraying
One single unique semblance of her
And yet she lives anonymous, incognito, inconspicuous
Among men and mankind
And she reposes from your love and her sacred name

But, wherever she may be
Whoever she is
You will instantly know – for sure
For certain
That she is the one !

It could be none other
She and she alone
As no one else like her exists, none, but no one
Upon this planet
No one like her
Indeed no one but Her !

So when you get there
To that alien place, any place, anywhere
Late at night, as one usually does
When you reach your blessed city
Such as Valjevo for example
The curious children will encircle you

And their eyes will embrace you
As they always do – as their innocence will gaze at strangers
And yet – in that city you will recognize no one
Because there is no one
Because every soul has mysteriously disappeared and departed
And as you pain and strain to reconcile with reality
It dawns upon you that no one will return
You suddenly think it’s all over and yet
There is no one there
And there are no solid promises
No guaranty that we will meet again – ever
And that is the scariest thing of all

And yet – a man and a woman are no lesser creation
Than water itself
And water never dies

And even earthly death is not something
That has never happened before

Even if we lived a thousand years
Our millennium would be fleeting brief
As but a single sunny summer
Because the years are made, molded and meant
To come and go
And everything and naught within those years
Is unlike
Vera Pavladoljska
Because only she had given you [me] everything
Even that which she herself had never possessed

But her customary abode was the seventh cloud
Where eventually she had returned, retreated and retired
But for as long as this song is sung
Shared
Read to one another
She will reincarnate with an ever brighter silken smile
And she will never ever have anything
Absolutely nothing to do
With cemeteries and death

And when you arrive
Everything will suddenly, inexplicably
Appear familiar – somehow
Like a kiss
Already pledged and delivered to someone, somewhere
Long, long ago