11photographs

by desanka maksimovic

born 1898 in yugoslavia:

i seek mercy

for the women stoned

and their accomplice- the darkness of night

for the scent of clover and the branches

on which they fell intoxiated

like quails and woodcocks

for their scorned lives

for their love torments

unrelieved by compassion.

i seek mercy

for the moonlight and for the rubies

of their skin

for the moonlights dusk

for the showers of their undone hair

for the handful of silvery branches

for the loves naked

and damned-

for all

mary magdalenes.