“AGING IN EXILE” – AFTER A SONG, SIROCCO”

Aging in exile

No joy for you
Only a repetition of joy
Only a joy
Here to rejoice
In the sake of itself
If you were a tribal man, a tribe
Would walk you through all things needed
To rejoice
In joy
Walking in sync, side by side, laughing steps
Energy of legs
Shoulders behaving, wild and unexpectable
In tribe
Witness from a distance you foolish foe
Witness the reflection of your own woe

After a song, sirocco

A sandy sadness and windy youth
The greyness of the playground dazzlingly
Intrudes and returns the feeling to grow up
Into an idea, a happy strong smile
Of soft muscles ready to form, but where
Where did it start and where did it end
When was it given a name
South wind bears south fruit
South sand with south sea
South salt in south sun Sun
Sun South
South

— Keko Prijatelj is a writer from Split. His work has been published in Abridged, Expat Press, jmww, Misery Tourism, Queen Mob’s Teahouse, Rejection Letters, and elsewhere. Thank you for reading his biography.