Father’s Shadow

You’re gone, yet you’re everywhere.

In the scent of morning tea, in the quiet of the house when everything is still.

In a phrase I speak, not knowing I once learned it from you.

You loved cats, dogs, birds — every creature that breathes.

You used to say animals are more honest than people,

and you spoke to them as equals.

They loved you, just as the world did — quietly, but forever.

You would stand in the middle of the room and recite,

with hands that never sought applause,

only to let the feeling pass through you.

In your words lived dignity, warmth,

and that rare closeness that made people fall silent and listen.

You left as gently as you lived.

Without grand words, without noise.

But you didn’t disappear — you became part of everything I love.

Part of me.

Sometimes I feel you near.

In the cat curled in my lap, in the dog’s gaze waiting by the door.

In the voice that guides me when I don’t know where to go.

They say time heals.

Perhaps.

But what you were — it doesn’t fade.

It stayed.

In the way I love, in the way I remain silent, in a gaze that still seeks kindness. Sometimes I write you letters.

No address, no stamp.

Only the heart knows where they go.

And I don’t cry as often now,

but when the wind stirs the curtains —

I know it’s you.

Your gentle spirit, your silence that embraces better.

Maja Milojković was born in Zaječar and divides her life between Serbia and Denmark. In Serbia, she serves as the deputy editor-in-chief at the publishing house Sfairos in Belgrade. She is also the founder and vice president of the Rtanj and Mesečev Poets’ Circle, which counts 800 members, and the editor-in-chief of the international e-magazine Area Felix, a bilingual Serbian-English publication. She writes literary reviews, and as a poet, she is represented in numerous domestic and international literary magazines, anthologies, and electronic media. Some of her poems are also available on the YouTube platform. Maja Milojković has won many international awards. She is an active member of various associations and organizations advocating for peace in the world, animal protection, and the fight against racism. She is the author of two books: Mesečev krug (Moon Circle) and Drveće Želje (Trees of Desire). She is one of the founders of the first mixed-gender club Area Felix from Zaječar, Serbia, and is currently a member of the same club. She is a member of the literary club Zlatno Pero from Knjaževac, and the association of writers and artists Gorski Vidici from Podgorica, Montenegro.