(Fresco in Gračanica)
They gouged your eyes out, you beautiful painting!
One night on a stone plate
Knowing that nobody is around to see him,
An Arbanas stabbed you in the eyes with a knife.
But to touch he couldn't
Your nobly face, or your mouth,
Or your golden crown, or the royal veil,
Under which lay your thick hair.
And now in this church, on a stone pillar
In a bejeweled mosaic-dress
While you're silently living your harsh fate
I look at you - sad, solemn, and white;
And like extinguished stars, which
to a man still send their light,
and the man sees the shine, shape, and the color
Of far away stars which already don't exist.
That's how now, from the dark wall
On the sooty and ancient plate
On me shine, sad Simonida -
Your long gouged out eyes!
Behind the poem
"Simonida" by Milan Rakić is a poem that pays homage to Simonida Nemanjić, Byzanthian princess from the Paleologus dynasty and the wife of King Milutin Nemanjić, a medieval Serbian monarch who ruled during the 13th and 14th centuries. Simonida is a historical figure who has captured the imagination of poets and scholars for her significance in medieval Serbian history, mostly because of her sad fate: Simonida was only three years old when she was sent off to Serbia to marry the then 40-year-old king. She became a nun shortly after his death.
Milan Rakić's poems are usually rich with symbols of Serbian national history. He was inspired to write the poem "Simonida" after seeing the act of vandalism committed by the Turks on the fresco of Simonida in the Gračanica Monastery; her eyes were gouged out. This left a profound impression on Rakić, who will go on to use the idea of Simonida's destroyed fresco as a metaphor for suffering of the entire Serb nation.
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