Road Signs

Road Signs


They had told me:
“Everything comes once we stop waiting
both trains and people”
I did not believe them
I was waiting
Like a rainy April would wait for springtime
I counted neither the days nor the years
I counted stars and clouds
I did not want to be like them
In my eyes I was carrying my world
Learning how to wait in it..
They had told me:
“Waiting is like brushing your hair against the wind,
Those who come, will come even without the wait”
They did not understand me!
It is not only I who is waiting
It is the eternity waiting in me
There are roads and bridges in me
Road signs and doors to the heart
Even the heavens are waiting with me
And two windows with a view of hope
Silences and solaces are with me
and arms spread wide for an embrace …

Mariana Qunbar Selma

(Translated from Serbian by Jana Begovic)

Mariana Qunbar Selma writes under the pen name SELMA. She was born in southern Serbia, the village of Medja, Leskovac on March 22, 1969, and since 1992 she has been living and working in Israel. She writes poetry, fiction and essays. In the magazine ONA [She], she has her own column under the title, “Our Voice from Jerusalem.” She has published five books, out of which four were poetry collections, and one a novel.

1. Awakening 2016, a collection of poems, Galaksija, Niš

2. Poems as Traces and Dances, 2016 a collection a poems, Galaksija Niš

3. TEMPEST (and a Breeze) 2017, a collection of poems, Nova Poetika

4. A Fistful of Darkness 2018, a collection of poems, Banatski Kulturni Centar

5. The Woman with a Chameleon Soul 2018, a novel Banatski Kulturni Centar