"An icon for Orpheus (or how I got into a "trap")"

Everything regarding the Festival in Plovdiv appealed to me very much, and I took the invitation gladly. But, the Organizers invite to write an essay on the topic of "The Figure of Orpheus – Between Myth and Moment" got me into a two-sided dilemma. First, will I have enough time to write it (considering my personal and other professional obligations), and second, how inspired am I by the subject itself. But, when something enters my head, it's pretty hard to get it out... And so I got into a trap.. The result is a poem "An Icon For Orpheus" and a couple of words about myth and moment. First there was a song.

 

“An Icon For Orpheus”

If I disappear, if I die

Will you start singing?

Will you search for me in Hades?

Or am I already beyond life?

 

……………………………………………………………………………    ……I am troubled by

……………………………………………………………………the myth of love without us

It seems as it became only a moment, a spark

Which blurs the view

Stuck on a screen

Where we look for and offer that which is missed?

……………………………………………………………………………………………Whatever

If you find me there

Stop at my profile, photograph...

And your pupils dilate

Click the icons of love                                                              ♥♥♥♥♥♥

……………………………………………………………………I will recognize the moment

 

You will be my Orpheus

My like for a myth

For a poem

For the imperishable in a blink of an eye

………………………………………………………………………………………I am ready

……………………………………………………………………… …………I am searching

……………………………………………………………………for the Icon Of Orpheus

 

***

Love in the focus of my first thoughts? I was surprised by myself. Lately my mind was occupied by completely different subjects. Is it because of spring, something from the subconscious? An archetype, some inner lyre, some Sondi...???

It's obvious that I think that today everything comes down to a moment, even love. And, comparing it to a mythical love, it gained some new shapes. I am always drawn to think about (the feeling of) love in the context of the moment the civilization finds itself in. Are we able to love? It seems that love today misses the true nature of man. Actually, I think that man is a spiritual being which is not in harmony with the technological development of civilization. And hence the "break downs" in his relationship towards everything that surrounds him – people, family, nature, kids, animals, food, social life.. Abbreviated. Superficial. For a moment.

But still, some archetypes live inside of us, and myths as well live deep in us, whether we want it or not. How to match them with "today"? Which force is stronger? Centripetal or centrifugal?  Will we suck that world into us and organize it the way we see fit, or will we throw ourselves into the chaos which seems so organized and democratic? In both cases, where will it lead us? Questions, questions, questions.

It seems to me that one of the messages of the myth of Orpheus is that not even great love can bring us back from the dead. Symbolically dead. We are imperfect. People. Not Gods. But we are given the possibility of decorating life, and the world in us and around us, with art. We cannot give up. This was written, sung, painted, sculpted about... by many. For me, one of the most beautiful songs about Orpheus was written by Christoph Meckel and it's called "Old Orpheus".

I took out love (in the broadest sense) because I believe it to be the moving force of all. From beginning of the world until now, today. I tend to understand changes and find the measure of survival. Both myth and moment.

It's just a try of (another) poet.

 

Milosava Pavlovic