The City
the caravan road to the hinterland
routes leading to mines of silver, lead & copper
strong craft activity developed
goldsmiths, blacksmiths, builders
under the brief rule of good king Tvrtko
complete its construction as an urban centre
a permanent orientation of their inhabitants
and their wish to live freely in a common state
Its People
the lowly people of this place
familiar & flourishing unabased
their faces shine – circumstances of power
for they were all strangers once
decided at the national assembly to unite
moving in concert as they had always moved
dignified men & women relishing their lives
The Welcome
soon the Old Stars shall begin their dance
radiating life between us, faint ochre in colour
your results had a social note
a birth, a dream, all in balance
new patterns appearing behind the old
all to achieve this moment
The Union
she said softly to me,
prepare your sword, my love
fall fertile & utter
a smile of delight
to live freely in a common state
reaching the top of our craft
not material goods only
A Future
we ran to the ship & thanked
in the dark woods brief dapples’ll bloom
behind them now fresh points of light
an uneasy balance
carrying that up again
1 Venice, 1616. Accessed online as a part of the CD-ROM Historical Archives Kotor http://poincare.matf.bg.ac.rs/iak/iak.htm
lexis additional to sequence from Michael Moorcock, “The City in the Autumn Stars”, in Von Bek; The Tale of the Eternal Champion Vol 1, pp 455-8 (Millennium, 1992), & from Dr. sc. Milenko M. Pasinović (trans Dr. sc.Živan Filippi), Kotor: World Monument of Cultural and Natural Heritage (Zagreb, 2011), pp 13-14 & 21-22. On Kotor, a good introduction is the UNESCO World Heritage Site listing at http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/125.