Ajsa Zahirovic

Ajsa (Pen name: Džemila) Zahirovic, lawyer by profession, was born on the first day of spring at Vratnik, in the very heart of the old city core of Sarajevo. Originates from the Haćam family, her mother Džemila and her fathre Ago coming from the families Kurbegovic and Aganovic. Her father Ago got a new family name after her great-grandfather, sheikh Mula Zahir Aganovic, and thus left her that name. For a number of years she has been engaged in the research of the poetry of women poets.

She wrote and published 16 poetry books (in Bosnian, Italian, Hindu, Kannada, English, Arabic, Urdu, Telugu languages, some of them bilingual).

She was editor of 10 anthologies in Bosnia, English, Greek, Castilian languages, some of them were bilingual Bosnia-English, English-Castilian etc.

Her work is included in great number of world anthologies of poetry in different languages.

Her poems have been translated into: Italian, Turkish, Arabic, German, Greek, Spanish, Malaysian, English, Thai, Korean, Japanese, Maltese, Hindu, Urdu, Punjabi, Kannad (India), Oriya, Marathi, Gujrati (India), Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Kashmiri, French, Castilian, Chinese, Slovenian, Albanian, Rumanian, Portuguese, etc.

Her Poems have been set to music (cassettes and LP’s “I call you by name Bosnia”). There was artistic film made on Ajsa Zahirovic’s biography “The Echo of Ajsa’s Voice” (1992) Sarajevo, TV Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnian and English language.

MEDITATION

Once, when nights start smiling

when the dark wakes up

when the faces of the turn pale

toil and dreading and yield and fruit

will be catching up with each others on the road

in the early dawn

they will comb their exhaustion

through the troubles and white waters

(Changbai Tianchi-Heavently Lake, China)

TO THE EARTH

At the time you appeared

fire appeared too

At the time the fire appeared

soul appeared too

At the time soul appeared

rainbow appeared too

At the time the rainbow appeared

Love appeared too

At the time love appeared

Death also appeared

(Buchara, Uzbekistan, 1981)

I AM NOT LONELY

I am not lonely

one window is ablaze

love cannot calm down

in the distance

A drama is being written

a  poet is avoiding sleep

until late

very late into the  night

(Skopje  Macedonia, 1983)

AT BAŠČARŠIJA

and

A YOURNEY TO THAILAND

Here I am to look

for my home where

I was born centuries back

and find out the names of

my mother and father

... and my love

in my previous birth

Here I am to take

your initials on my

ash-like forehead

and seek celestial signs

to help me to clean my soul

in the temple of your love

with the white flakes

of deep silence  

Here I am to untie

the knots of my time

and fill the holes in me

with the petals of flowers

to give them as a gift to

those whom walk over the cobble stones

(Sarajevo-Bangkok, November, 1988)

AWARD: Adult Poetry W.B.Yeats Award.

                 In San  Mateo, Calif.U.S.A.,1990

TO THE EARTH

I am afraid of your beauty

it makes me restless

Do not give all the gifts on this day

When I am in the sod

embrace me with your warmth

and I will in return

make you fruitful once again

(Washington, U.S.A., 1974.)

BEFORE US,  AROUND US

Before us, around us

still burn wild fires

Grasses have gone white

Waters have lost their luster

The hungry eyes of the black and the yellow

observe the river of milk

and warm pillows

Together with the rains there flow away

their prayers to us

Behind us around us

too strong fires burn

You flower-lovers, you romantic souls

keep up the sky so that it does not fall

over the emptiness to big!

(In the World, before many years, until now)

Name: Dr Ajsa Zahirovic

Phone: +387 33 667 578

Address: Str Kranjceviceva 41,

71000 Sarajevo

Bosnia and Herzegovina

ajsazahirovic@yahoo.com

AWARDS

Hon. member New Zealand PEN 1994; Hon. LittD (World Acad. of Arts and Culture) 1988; Int. Eminent Poet, Int. Poets' Acad., Madras, Robert Frost Award, Adult Literary Arts, San Mateo, USA 1990, World Award Gold Crown, World Poetry Research Institute 1990, Silver Crown, Accademia Internazionale di Pontzen, Italy 1991, Int. Prize for Poetry, Int. Soc. of Greek Writers 1994, Radio Corridor Golden Plate of Humanity, Sarajevo 1996, Poetry Day Australia Golden Medallion Dove in Peace 1996, Int. Poets' Acad. Poet of the Millennium, India –2000, World Acad. of Arts and Culture XX World Congress of Poets Prize, Thessaloniki, Greece 2000, World Award Mikis Theodorakis, Greece 2004, World Award Int. Asscn of Greek Writers and Int. Acad. of Literature and Arts Athens Goddess 2004, Int. Peace Prize 2005, United Cultural Convention 2005, Int. Poets Acad. Lifetime Achievement Award, Madras, India, ABI Gold Medal for Bosnia and Herzegovina, USA, XXIX World Congress of Poets Medal and Plaque, Budapest 2009, All India Intellectual Peace Acad. Int. Peace Award 2010, International Intellectual Peace Academy National President Award for Bosnia and Herzegovina, India 2013, and other awards.