Raisa Melnikova

Creative biography

Raisa Melnikova is a poet, prose writer, publicist, and translator. Lives in Lithuania, in Vilnius. Author of 35 books. Poems and prose have been published in more than two hundred editions worldwide and translated into other languages. Author is a member of international writers’ unions, secretary and Vice President of MLATT/ILACT. Academician MARLEY. She is a laureate of fifteen International Literary Festivals and Competitions. She is the winner of the Golden Pen and three Nika statuettes. She was awarded many medals and insignia for her literary activities.

The voice of the heart

Blessed are the hands of man

that created earthly beauty,

the skill of the creator, that comes from the century

realizing a bright dream.

Bless the sea where did you swim

grass covered with dew that smells like mignonette.

I am grateful for the happiness what got –

everything that fate has sent down to me.

Blessed is the sky above the earth

where I live and I create a good world,

and the people who are next to me.

I thank this world for everything!

The evening lit up in purple

The evening turned purple.

The day will pass inexorably.

The arch of the sky in the stars is impeccable.

Moon is assigned a ballot.

On the tower, counting time,

The clock hands are flashing.

And an echo from the tram

Delivers a message from the past.

Peace surrounds the surroundings.

My city is getting ready to sleep.

I catch time with a net,

Trying to curb the arrows.

Words playing with a melody

Striving to find meaning

The grass in the garden is flooded

From phrases packed in handfuls.

And the rhythms turn into songs,

They find shelter in heaven.

But arrows are the messenger of the future…

The clock on the tower is striking dawn.

The gift of poetry

The priceless gift of poetry:

To write and, speaking in verse,

To lay wreaths of words on the aesthetic altar;

To extract from the depths of the spirit

With a nimble pen the threads of meaning

And to write in quick handwriting

Verbs with a brush in orbit

My ringing voice amidst storms

Sounds selflessly in verse

And secretly penetrates inside

A star sliding through the veins.

Raisa Melnikova, Vilnius, Lithuania