Watercolor painting

You are painting and you have already washed everything

with water so that the colors are in such layers

and you are careful with the shades.

It’s all in the shades, you say.

Thats how you are in life,

you dont express yourself quickly about something

and you use all kinds of excuses to avoid

or kept your opinion silent.

It’s all in the shades.

When, very rarely, you have a guiding thought

a certain musical theme is heard throughout the world

which aims to characterize you,

as a person or an event related to you,

which is always repeated when appearing on

stage you as a hero and in memory of that particular event.

It is so important to tell the world what you think,

without hesitation.

You are not a man inexperienced

in the art or your art of silence

you are not a layman, you know a lot.

You recognize the shades of life in the world.

You sometimes feel like

a man running with a burning torch

and you think everyone sees it like

at the opening of the Olympic Games.

And only you see the hot and liquid mass

that volcanoes throw out

which flows from them and which,

when cooled, hardens like stone

painting his washed-out pictures in shades.

And you won’t even admit to yourself

that you felt the eruption of the world

still silent.

In its shades…

Yes, you felt the avalanche

powerful mass, as a contrast,

that destroys everything in front of it.

That you felt both hot and cold.

Tanja Ajtic was born in Belgrade, Serbia. She lived and studied in Serbia. She is a poet and a writer, but she is also an artist. She also deals with fine graphics. Since 2002, she lives and creates in Canada. Moved to Belgrade, Serbia 2023. Tanja Ajtic is a member of many groups and associations. In Serbia, she is a member of the prestigious Society of Writers of Belgrade. Her poems and stories have been published two hundred collections (books), anthologies and electronic books. Her poems have been published in twelve languages. She published her book Outlines of Love. She participated with books and anthologies at many fairs in the world with other authors. In 2024 and 2025, Ajtic collaborated with Indian poet Sourav Sarkar on two joint poetry collections that present two works by the poet in one book. – She won second prize in Great Britain from the Serbian Library in London (2019). – She won III World Prize for Excellence; Cesar Vallejo; 2021 in the category of artistic excellence Lima, Peru, by the World Spanish Union of Writers and International Award of Excellence; from the World Spanish Union of Writers, UHE Mexico.

She won the I International Award of Excellence & “Cita Del Glateo” Antonio De Ferrariis, IX edition 2022 – Rome, Italy, a prestigious award in the group of poets for the English language (IX edition of the award for foreign poetry in English) in 2022, Rome, Italy. – Winners of Foundation Naji Naaman literary prize iz 2023; (21 st Edition), from the Republic of Lebanon, Honor Prize (for complete work) for Literary prizes 2023. Poetry for the competition was submitted in three languages: English, French and Arabic. – Winning the 2023 “Zheng Nian Cup” Literary Award – Third Prize by the Beijing Mindfulness Literature Museum, China. – Winning Third Prize, Friedrich Schiller International Literary Competition (2025). She is the winner of many awards, diplomas and certificate. She is currently writing poetry, short stories, haiku, Gogyoshi poetry as well as graphics artist as a freelance artist.