Damir Gazetić

SELECTED
SHORT WORKS
ESSAYS, FICTION, POETRY

Niš
2023
Contents

List of Figures ............................................... 3

Proto-Semitic Alphabet ................................. 5
Some of the Oldest Non-Cuneiform Alphabetic
Inscriptions ................................................... 11
Who Were the Inhabitants of Ancient Troy?.19
Some Notes on the Liquid Modern Tourism..25
Dialogues of the Dinosaurs ...........................31
Some Lyrics .................................................. 55
List of Figures

Figure 1. Serabit el-Khadim Sphinx.............. 8

Figures 2 & 3. Proto-Semitic inscription...... 8
Figures 4-7. Wadi el-Hol Inscriptions........... 9
Figure 8. The 'Izbet Sartah Ostracon............ 13
Figures 9-10. The ʼIšbaʻal Inscription from
Khirbet Qeiyafa..............................................14
Figures 11-12. The Tel Zayit Abecedary....... 15
Figures 13-14. The Khirbet Qeiyafa
Ostracon........................................................ 17
Figures 15-16. King Ahiram's Inscription.....18
Figures 17-18. Anatolia in the Late Bronze
Age................................................................. 23
Figure 19. Luwian hieroglyphic seal from Troy
VIIb................................................................ 24
PROTO-SEMITIC ALPHABET
 PROTO-SEMITIC ALPHABET

Proto-Semitic script, invented in the early

2nd millennium BC, is probably the oldest
alphabetic system, from which all the later
alphabets descended. This script is believed to be
an intermediate stage between the Egyptian
hieroglyphs and Phoenician alphabetic writing.
There are more than forty inscriptions
belonging to the Proto-Semitic corpus, and most
of them were found at Serabit el-Khadim in the
Sinai Peninsula. This is the reason why the script
is often called Proto-Sinaitic. First ten
inscriptions recognized as such were discovered
by Flinders Petrie in 1905/6.
The language of Proto-Semitic
inscriptions remains unknown, but it is generally
accepted that it must be some kind of early West
Semitic, probably a dialect of Canaanite. The
first major breakthrough in their decipherment
was made in 1916 by Alan Gardiner, who
managed to read and translate the group of five
characters as lb’lt = “to the Lady” (fig. 2 & 3).
Two Proto-Semitic inscriptions
discovered in 1998 in Wadi el-Hol are similar to
those of Sinai, with some signs showing even
greater hieroglyphic influence. This might lead to
a conclusion that the first alphabetic writing was
invented in middle Egypt (Wadi el-Hol is located
on an ancient desert road between Thebes-Luxor
and Abydos), created by Semitic mercenaries in
Egyptian service.

7
 Fig. 1. Serabit el-Khadim Sphinx

Fig. 2 & 3. Proto-Semitic inscription

8
Fig. 4-7. Wadi el-Hol Inscriptions

9
SOME OF THE OLDEST NON-CUNEIFORM
ALPHABETIC INSCRIPTIONS
SOME OF THE OLDEST NON-CUNEIFORM
ALPHABETIC INSCRIPTIONS

The 'Izbet Sartah Ostracon

Inscription on the 'Izbet Sartah ostracon

represents the earliest known non-cuneiform
abecedary. The ostracon is discovered in 1976 in
'Izbet Sartah in Israel, and it is dated to the 12th
or the early 11th century BC.
The inscription is written by an unskilled
scribe, probably a student, and it consists of four
lines of writing exercises, followed by the 22
letters of the Ancient Hebrew alphabet in the fifth
line.

Fig. 8. The 'Izbet Sartah Ostracon

13
The ʼIšbaʻal Inscription from Khirbet Qeiyafa

The ʼIšbaʻal Inscription was found in

2012 in Khirbet Qeiyafa (ca. 30 km south-west of
Jerusalem, Israel), during the excavation
conducted on behalf of the Institute of
Archaeology of the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem.
The inscription, dated to ca. 1000 BC,
was incised before firing, written on a pottery
storage jar. The letters of the inscription run from
right to left, and they were written by a man
skilled in Canaanite script. Also, there is a word
divider – a short, straight vertical line appearing
between the words.
The inscription includes a personal name:
ʼšbʻl bn bdʻ(= ʼIšbaʻal son of Bedaʻ).
The first few letters of the inscription are
damaged, but the first word, preceding ʼIšbaʻal,
seems to have four letters: kaf, bet or pe, resh or
qof, and tav.

14
Fig. 9-10. The ʼIšbaʻal Inscription from Khirbet
Qeiyafa

The Tel Zayit Abecedary

This inscription, discovered in 2005 at the

site of Tel Zayit in Israel, is dated to the 10th
century BC, and it represents one of the oldest
non-cuneiform abecedaries.

15
 Fig. 11-12. The Tel Zayit Abecedary

The Khirbet Qeiyafa Ostracon

This ostracon was found in 2008 at the

archaeological site of Khirbet Qeiyafa in Israel.
The ostracon, maximum dimensions 15x16.5 cm,
bears an inscription containing 70 letters written
in five lines, therefore it is the longest known
alphabetic inscription of this date (ca. 1000 BC).
The inconsistent ways the letters are
written suggests that this is the work of an
unexperienced scribe. It is written in a script that
is Canaanite, rather than Phoenician or Ancient
Hebrew. Language of the text is also uncertain –
it could be Hebrew, but also Canaanite,
Phoenician or Moabite.
The content of the text varies, depending
on the different interpretations suggested by

16
scientists: they range from a list of names (e.g.
Hebrew and Canaanite names written in a form
of writing exercises), to commands of social and
moral nature (possibly a message concerning
social justice, mentioning slaves, widows,
orphans, etc).

Fig. 13-14. The Khirbet Qeiyafa Ostracon

17
 King Ahiram's Inscription

Old Phoenician inscription on the Ahiram

sarcophagus from Byblos, ca. 1000 BC, is
considered to be the earliest known example of
the fully developed Phoenician alphabet.

Fig. 15-16. King Ahiram's Inscription

December 2016

18
WHO WERE THE INHABITANTS OF
ANCIENT TROY?
 WHO WERE THE INHABITANTS OF
ANCIENT TROY?

Or, to put this question in another manner:

what was the language spoken by the Troyans?
Almost a century ago, first attempts have been
made in identification of the Homer's Ilios with
ancient Wilusa, and by now, this identification
should be considered as commonly accepted.
But what do we know about Wilusa?
Unfortunately, not much. The very first mention
of this name is that in the Hittite sources, in its
Luwian form - Wilusiya, and that is probably the
right way for revealing the true background for
Troy and its inhabitants. Due to lack of evidence,
it is still uncertain to claim that the Troyans were
Luwians, i.e. Indo-Europeans speaking language
that was closely related to Hittite, but there is
reasonable doubt, and it is very likely in the light
of existing facts.
Luwian people inhabited most of western
and southern Anatolia by the end of 3rd
millennium BC, if not even earlier. Hieroglyphic
seal found in Troy is one evidence in good
direction, so is the name of the 13th-century
Wilusian king, Alaksandu (Luwian form, Greek:
Alexandros). Unfortunately, there are only two
more personal names known from ancient Wilusa,
and it is not certain if they were also Luwian.
What we do know, though, is that there
was very complex political situation in western

21
Anatolia towards the end of the 13th century BC,
with Hittites, Ahhiyawan kings (Ahhiyawa -
kingdom in Mycenaean Greece) and, of course,
Luwian lands and their rulers included. Such
historical background might have been
inspiration for some events depicted in Iliad, and
if we quote Homer in that part where he speaks
of Troyan army: "... for they had not one speech
nor language, but their tongues were diverse,
and they came from many different places" (Iliad,
IV, 437-8, translated by Samuel Butler), we
might as well keep in mind that the language
mostly heard in that army was probably Luwian.
In addition, here are two maps, taken
from the book: The Luwians, edited by H. Craig
Melchert - the first one is tentative, depicting
possible distribution of Indo-European speakers
in the late 3rd millennium BC (p. 9) and the other
is showing Anatolia in the Late Bronze Age (p.
37). Also, the photo given is that of the
hieroglyphic seal found in 1995 in Troy VIIb. So
far, this is the first Bronze Age written evidence
from Troy, and it is inscribed with Luwian
hieroglyphs.

December 2015

22
Fig. 17-18. Anatolia in the Late Bronze Age

23
Fig. 19. Luwian hieroglyphic seal from Troy VIIb

24
SOME NOTES ON THE LIQUID MODERN
TOURISM
 SOME NOTES ON THE LIQUID MODERN
TOURISM

Why come to Trude? I asked myself. And I

already wanted to leave.
“You can resume your flight whenever you like,”
they said to me, “but you will arrive at another
Trude, absolutely the same, detail by detail. The
world is covered by a sole Trude which does not
begin and does not end. Only the name of the
airport changes.”
- Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities

Consumerism, as a distinctive mark of

modern/postmodern society, had left its impact
on many fields of human activities. Today’s
tourism, including the tourist experience, and the
transformation of individual’s notion towards it,
is definitely one of them. Let’s try to put some
light on tourism as it is now - being the part of
the so-called “liquid modernity” (Bauman, 2000)
- and the position of modern human individuum
in it. Due to a limited space, I’m not going
through this issue in its totality. What follows
here, is only a short review of a possible problem,
under no illusion of managing to offer a reliable
solution pretty soon.
More than half a century ago, Guy
Debord wrote of tourism as one of the products
of consumerist economy, deeply influenced by
the process of modernization. Here is the 168th

27
thesis of his famous work (Debord, 2014), cited
in whole:
“Tourism - human circulation packaged
for consumption, a by-product of the circulation
of commodities - is the opportunity to go and see
what has been banalized. The economic
organization of travel to different places already
guarantees their equivalence. The modernization
that has eliminated the time involved in travel has
simultaneously eliminated any real space from it.”
Maybe the words of Robert Luis
Stevenson - “to travel hopefully is a better thing
than to arive” - can be applied to many aspects of
liquid-modern society (Bauman, 2011), but they
are barely pertaining to modern-day tourism.
Taking in consideration modern wold’s
diminishing distances, today’s tourists are mostly
deprived of genuine satisfaction of traveling.
For Marshall McLuhan, the photograph,
namely the media, provided a new motive for
travel, reversing its previous purpose, which had
been to experience the strange and unknown.
“People moved by the silliest whims now clutter
the foreign places, because travel differs very
little from going to a movie or turning the pages
of a magazine.” Speaking of travelers, already
made passive by the gifts of modernization,
McLuhan concludes that “it could be argued that
such people never really leave their beaten paths
of impercipience, nor do they ever arrive at any
new place. They can have Shanghai or Berlin or
Venice in a package tour that they need never

28
open.” (McLuhan, 1964: 219) If this was true for
his time, what more could it be said for the
internet era we live in?
When it comes to a photograph as one of
the distractive factors in today’s tourist
experience - and that distraction is definitely
increased in our modern “society of the selfie”
(Morelock & Narita, 2021) - there is one possible
solution everyone could try: simply don’t take it!
We could all follow the example of Umberto Eco,
who had given up photographing as a young man,
right after a tour of French cathedrals, taken in
1960. After finding himself with a series of his
mediocre photos, and not remembering what he
had really seen, he threw away the camera and
started to only mentally record what he saw on
his travels (Eco, 2017). Unfortunately, with
travelers of our modern liquid times it’s not only
about their photos. It is needless to say that the
situation gets much more complicated with their
smartphones - certainly the world’s most popular
multimedia devices - as their (un)natural
“extensions” (more than ever before - and not
surprisingly - it seems quite convenient to use
McLuhan’s term here).
I think it’s fair to conclude these notes
with Eco, who sees the unaffected seasoned
travelers - coming back from one holiday, only to
think of the next, with no life-changing
experience to talk about - as the real effect of
globalization. Not only that “the places of real
pilgrimage now strive to look like places of

29
virtual pilgrimage”, but all places are also
beginning to look like each other. “When
everything comes to resemble everything else,
tourism will no longer be about exploring the real
world. Wherever we go, we will always find
what we’ve already seen, and what we could
have seen from home, sitting in front of our
television.” (Eco, 2017: 116)
So, it looks like we’re back to Calvino’s
Trude...

August 2022

References:
1. Bauman, Z. (2000). Liquid Modernity.
Cambridge: Polity Press.
2. Bauman, Z. (2011). Culture in a Liquid
Modern World. Cambridge: Polity Press.
3. Calvino, I. (1974). Invisible Cities. San
Diego: Harcourt Brace & Company.
4. Debord, G. (2014). The Society of the
Spectacle. Barkeley, CA: Bureau of Public
Secrets.
5. Eco, U. (2017). Chronicles of a Liquid
Society. New York: Random House.
6. McLuhan, M. (1964). Understanding Media:
The Extensions of Man. New York:
McGraw-Hill.
7. Morelock, J., Narita, F. (2021). The Society
of the Selfie: Social Media and the Crisis of
Liberal Democracy. London: University of
Westminster Press.

30
DIALOGUES OF THE DINOSAURS
 DIALOGUES OF THE DINOSAURS
Or
Just Another Short Story

Prologue

Some might say that it was love at first

sight, the others - that it was meant to be. He
would probably fit into the latter category, only if
there wasn't one principle that still occupied his
mind. There is no such thing as fortune, the
future is unwritten, and left to the consequences
of man's activities. He knew something about the
future, or at least believed he did, for he was a SF
writer. With a PhD in Sociology on it's way, he
could also take into the account the multiple
effects of human doings and non-doings.
He had made quite an impression on her
the very first time they had met. Maybe it was
because of liquor, maybe the whole atmosphere
in the cafe where he saw her standing with her
friends that night, but his words - and he knew
his way with words - were bolder than ever.
- I dreamt of you last night.
- Really? What was I like?
- You were a kind of indistinctive... Come to
think of it now, it might have been any woman I
had ever loved... No, it was you alright.
- How do you know it was me?
- Well, I wished it was you.
- Well, thank you!
And there it was. Two souls and minds at

33
the beginning of a beautiful romance - or a
meaningful cohabitation, as he sometimes liked
to call it - inseparable from that night on.

There was a picture hanging on the wall

of her bedroom. Colorful, nostalgic, but
somehow too sweet, even for his taste. It had a
familiar quote, though, written with white,
irregular letters stretching from left to right: “For
what it’s worth: it’s never too late or, in my case,
too early to be whoever you want to be. There’s
no time limit, stop whenever you want...” And so
on... Of course, there was a name he had saw so
many times at the bottom of this misquotation.
For it was a wrong name, just another
misinformation, so often - and by so many -
viewed indifferently through the lens of the
internet society we've turned into. He knew that
much. But did she? His inner monologue didn't
go unnoticed by her.
- I bought it on a yard sale a couple of years ago.
Always loved that quotation. Quite motivational,
isn't it?
- Motivational it is. Comforting, I would say...
You know that it wasn't written by F. Scott
Fitzgerald?
- It wasn't?
- It wasn't. You see, I occasionally read some
articles that have nothing to do with science, and
one day I bumped on this one, explaining it to me

34
quite thoroughly... Fitzgerald never wrote these
lines, but they are related to his story. You know,
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
- I know, I watched the movie.
- And the movie was inspired by Fitzgerald's
story. Actually, the quote is taken from the film,
words spoken by Brad Pitt, but if we are going to
attribute these lines to anybody, it should be that
guy, Eric Roth...
- The screenplay writer?
- The screenwriter. Quite a good one, too! He did
a tremendous job on Forrest Gump. I'm not sure
about the Dune, though...
- Well, that's an extra information for me.
Luckily enough, it doesn't diminish the power of
these words.
- Not at all! The quote is inspirational, no matter
who is the writer. Which reminds me... Have you
read it?
- What?
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
- Not since I was a student.
- We should re-read it together.
- Sure.
- So, what you say?
- You mean, right now?
- It's a short story. We can go to a library or...
- No, we can not go to a library! We'll do it right
here, on my laptop. Just let me find a PDF...
- Fair enough...
He reluctantly accepted the existence of
such a benefit coming from the internet society

35
we've turned into. After all, they really liked
Fitzgerald's story. Life seems much precious
when told backwards.

Strolling through the park - the activity he

regularly enjoyed before the dusk. Now, there
were two of them, waiting for the last beams of
the setting sun. It kept on glimmering through the
trees, not long before the promise of an early
autumn's evening was fulfilled.
- This is my favourite spot. Impressive, isn't it?
- Beautiful... And no, you can not light your
cigarette! Those things will kill you.
- Something eventually will... "I don't wanna die
healthy", you know that Jack Nicholson's line
from that movie, what was it called... It's OK,
really, I don't mind. I'm not in need for cigarettes
when I'm with love of my life... Although, the
scenery is sometimes much better when watched
through the greyish haze...
- I'll tell you something about the scenery, I'll
take a shot that will look perfectly on my profile!
- If you have to. There were times when I was
taking so many pictures of this place, putting
them on social networks. They all turned out to
be just bad copies of something extraordinary,
and I couldn't escape that feeling that I behaved a
bit egoistically. Now, wherever I go, I memorize
those places in my head, and they look much

36
better. As for the pictures, a postcard or two will
do...
- Ah, you and your anti-social networking
attitude!
- And for good reason. Here's the quotation I
liked so much I had to put it in my thesis, it
might even be hanged on my wall someday: "The
Net’s interactivity gives us powerful new tools for
finding information, expressing ourselves, and
conversing with others. It also turns us into lab
rats constantly pressing levers to get tiny pellets
of social or intellectual nourishment." It's from
Carr's The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing
to Our Brains.
- That's one way to look at it... How do you even
make your contacts?
- I had made them before. And now, simple email
is more than enough. Speaking of which, my
publisher contacted me yesterday, he is counting
on me... It's time to get back to my SF writing!
- Well, that's something we need to celebrate!
Selfie?
- Yeah, why not...

In the beginning was the Word.

But people started to represent themselves
through their images;
And those images became more valuable than the
people themselves;

37
And people became envy of each other, they
became selfish, they forgot the Word.
People became vain, creating the images of the
Nature;
And people regarded those images as better than
the Nature itself;
And people forgot about the Nature.
But then, the Creator sent the Great Blackout to
the world;
And all the images were wiped out.
People felt lost, now that the world of images was
gone.
They had lost their skills because of images;
And had to reinvent the craft they had forgotten.
People had to bring back the memory of the
Word;
And to keep the Word in the world's memory.
So the Memory Keepers appeared, the men
saving all the people's knowledge.
Now that the images are gone and forbidden;
The Memory Keepers save all the knowledge, and
transmit it to new generations.

- So, what do you think of it?

- Not bad, some resemblance with Dune comes to
my mind... You know, Orange Catholic Bible.
- Well, Frank Herbert was the last man I was
thinking of while writing this one. I believe there
will be more of H. G. Wells when I get it done...
- And what's the plot?
- The Earth of the future, you might call it
apocalyptic, but it's much more than that. Society

38
is organized into smaller communities. It's an
iconoclastic society, functioning after the great
decay, caused by the destruction of all the things
ancient people depended on.
- Utopia or dystopia?
- Well, it's a perfect society from everyone's point
of view, much better than the world of the
Ancients. But, as the story goes, the problems
begin to unfold themselves. Unlike during the
ancient times, images are forbidden, and so are
the other symbolic representations of Nature.
There is no such thing as writing, for there are no
letters or other symbols of the words. All the
knowledge is transferred orally, and that's where
the Memory Keepers fit in. They are the
guardians of all the human memory, they are the
educators, the judges and the main performers of
religious rituals. But their knowledge varies from
one community to the other, eventually they are
not equal. This boy, one of the leading characters,
is lucky enough, getting all sorts of answers from
the Keeper of his community, questioning him
over and over again about the Ancients. And how
did he know all those answers? It will turn out,
somewhere at the end of the novel, that this
Keeper kept a great secret, being the last literate
man in the world, hiding in his cave the last
remnants of ancient literature. It is obvious, of
course, that all the stories about the Ancients are
the stories of our times, of our society, which
evidently collapsed in one point. For there were

39
too many things that just were not right. That's
the storyline, basically...
- Basically, you're telling me that you are going
to incorporate ideas from your PhD thesis into
your SF novel...
- You might say that I'm about to include some
social science into my fiction, but I guess you're
right. This could be a story of our society, and
one of the roads it is possibly heading. Call it
what you want, liquid, narcissistic, or society of
selfie, but the way things are today, there's not
much place for optimism. You're a pedagogue. I
believe you're well acquainted with the inquiry
method in education?
- One of it's main goals is to empower students to
ask the right questions...
- Yes, well, Postman and Weingarten stated that
in a book that was written more than half a
century ago. And the book wasn't bad written for
that time... But, regarding this method, what are
the conditions and possibilities with nowadays
students? Just consider all the distractions
coming from modern society. Then think of the
modern students: the more distracted they
become, the less capable of critical thinking they
are. I'm afraid we all expect too much from them.
- But there's certainly something we can do?
- Of course there is! If there is a right question,
there must be an answer. Why do you think I
write so many dialogues about the Ancients
anyway?

40
 4

- The Ancients, they had a different notion of time,

totally different from ours... It was spectacular
time, lived in illusions. Not in work, but in
consuming images they spent most of their time,
and worst of all, in their world they created
another image, image of the consumption of time,
where leisure and rest were the most desirable
things.
- I'm not quite sure I understand, o Keeper...
- Don't worry, boy, you will, in time... - the
Keeper stopped for a moment, but then continued
with greater eagerness - Consumption of time!
Time torn into pieces, like it is possible to
fragment something indivisible... Now, answer
me this: Is it possible to cut water into slices?
- Well, only if it's frozen...
- Well, is it possible to freeze the time? Of course
not! But the Ancients believed that it was, and
they had those images as a proof. No wonder
they thought the time had accelerated, they lost
their way in it...

- What's bothering you?

- I don't know, I sometimes feel so useless...
Preparing for my class tomorrow, and I don't
even know how to make my students read some
more!
- You can't! It's not your fault, neither is theirs,
but it's just the way the world is functioning right
now. I read about this university professor, she

41
teaches English, and she had to confess that even
she can’t get her students to read whole books
anymore. What more is there to say? I mean, they
are students of literature. Unfortunately, the very
idea of reading a book became old-fashioned for
most of the people. With all the information
available online, who could blame them?
- And what about people like us?
- People like us are in withdrawal. You know, I
sometimes think of us two, reading books from
cover to cover, and a picture of two dinosaurs
occurs in my mind...
- Is that what we are? Dinosaurs? So big?
- No, so extinct... But I guess you're right, it's not
a little thing, succeeding to live that way
nowadays. Come on, let's go for a walk!
- I'm afraid there's not much time, I have to finish
this one...
- We have all the time in the world. For a
moment, think of it as it had stopped. I'll take you
to the park, and read to you some new passages
from my novel... Speaking of time, I put some
Guy Debord in it, maybe you'll like it...
- The Society of the Spectacle?
- The spectacle it is!

- Tell me something about that book of yours...

This society of the future, it has no pictures, nor
images of any kind, right?

42
- Right, there are no images. They were
completely forbidden after the great iconoclastic
struggle which happened in one moment of their
past.
- There are no letters either? You said that even
symbolic representations were proscribed. But
what about numbers? How can any society
function without numbers? I mean, there are all
sorts of professions that need elementary maths
at least... Take farmers, for instance, don't they
need to count their products?
- I've been thinking about that, and it's something
I'll have to figure out. I'll think it out by the end
of the book for sure... But, you know what?
- What?
- It's science fiction! And one of the good things
about it is that nothing is impossible...

- Soon, my boy, the Great Assembly will take

place in our community. The Keepers from all the
other communities will be here. You know what
that means, don't you?
- I suppose... The big decision is about to be
made.
- And that decision concerns all of us, including
you, of course. We'll gather here to elect the
Succeeding Candidate... I won't be Memory
Keeper forever, and it really is the right time to
think of my heir. It's my conviction, and I'm ready

43
to share it with the Assembly, that you've shown
yourself ahead of all the others on that matter.
- Being a Candidate doesn't mean that I'll be a
Keeper for sure?
- No, but it's highly probable. What are you
worried about?
- O Keeper, what if I don't want to be your
successor? It's all too much for me. What if I
would rather be a carpenter, like my father?
- Being a Keeper is the greatest honor, my boy,
it's not something you can throw away. There's
also your responsibility towards community, and
the benefit of community is of utmost importance,
as you're aware. Remember this: the Memory
Keeper does not choose, he is the chosen one.
Don't you ever forget that!
- And what about love, marriage, having children?
I've already told you about the girl I...
- You'll have to forget her! The Keeper must be
faithful to the community he's looking after, and
the members of community will be faithful to
each other. There is love much greater than the
one you're thinking about right now, and there
were always people like us, ready for sacrifice in
the name of that love. Even in ancient times! And
I don't have to tell you that the Ancients generally
didn't know much about the true love...

- You know, Bauman was right...

- About what?
- About so many things. However, now it's love
I'm thinking about. "Liquid love", to be precise.

44
Due to our modern precarious, "short-term"
mentality, even the human beings are perceived
as disposable objects. Which leads us to act
towards bonds and partnerships the way we treat
all the other objects of consumption. Imagine
love, treated as something to be consumed... Call
me old-fashioned, but I believe that love is about
giving, not getting. I could not agree more with
Bauman, when he writes that consumption is a
lonely activity.
- We live in a society of consumers...
- Yes, and it's most prominent feature is "the
transformation of consumers into commodities"
to quote Bauman on that one. And yet, one more
thing bothers me. We view consumerism as an
attribute of society, and consumption as an aspect
of individual life, integral part of human nature,
one of the inseparable elements of survival
shared with other living beings. Where is the
border between consumption and consumerism? I
read someplace that even the original sin was a
"sin of consumption", since Adam and Eve
consumed something they didn't need to consume,
and after that they felt the need to cover
themselves, making their leaves the first external
possessions of the man. Is it really possible that
the consumerism - being the effort to constantly
be dissatisfied and want more - lies at the very
heart of our civilization? Is this what humanity is
made of? Not love, nor high ideals...

45
- You're such a romantic. You never forget about
love. And what about empathy, compassion, and
other most distinctively human emotions?
- Exactly! See what I'm worried about? It's not
about the changes of society, it's about the
modifications of human nature within it. It's
simply not "human, all too human" anymore. The
way I see it, the very definition of "human"
evaporates. And nothing seems the same
anymore...

The Keeper took them all to the top of the hill, the
place which allowed perfect view of their valley,
radiated by the rising sun.
- Behold, my children! Look at this beauty. You
have to be aware of the beauty, so you could
cherish it. And the beauty, it's all around us. It
was raining the other morning, and we were all
wet by the time sun came up, but what was that
morning like?
- It was beautiful! - the answer came from more
than one mouth.
- Yes, it was beautiful... So is this morning, as the
morning after will be, but so are the evenings,
and all the days of our lives... They are all gifts
from our Creator. Be aware of these gifts, never
forget what they are. Remember that the beauty
is always present, however difficult it is to be
seen sometimes, and even the reminiscence of
this presence will make you appreciate it.

46
 He haven't heard from her for days. Well,
in this case, it was the absence of beauty that
made him appreciate it.
His writing got into a minor crisis. Yes,
the ideas were lacking, but that didn't disturb him
much. Ideas do appear every now and again. The
important thing, as he had to admit it, is that they
frequently occurred in her company. He missed
her. It was one of their conversations that he
really needed right now. But she was far north,
and the only way they could have their
conversation was the one he never liked - by
phone.
- Hi...
- Hi! Now, that's a surprise! I thought you don't
like this kind of communication...
- I don't. But, you know what they say, desperate
times, desperate measures...
- You don't sound that desperate. How's your
writing going?
- Not too bad... And your research?
- I'm about to finish my job here. I'll be back in a
couple of days.
- Now, that's good news... And yes, there was a
reason to call you...
- It's about the novel, right?
- Right.
- So, what's happening?
- I've got stuck in the middle of a dialogue...
- Here or in your book?
- See, that's just what I needed! Some original,
straightforward, and unpretentious humour from

47
your side. Actually, I got what I wanted the very
moment I heard you...
- And I needed those words of yours! Now
seriously, how are you doing these days?
- I don't know about these days... Right now,
however, I'm feeling perfect... Writing about the
beauty was never my specialty, but with you on
my mind, it seems so easy. It was so nice hearing
from you. Have to go, my inspiration is on it's
way...
- Nice to hear from you, too. Oh, have you ever
thought about writing a love novel? I've got a
feeling you'd be good at it...
- Ha! Maybe someday...

Καινούργιους τόπους δὲν θὰ βρεῖς, δὲν θάβρεις

ἄλλες θάλασσες.
Ἡ πόλις θὰ σὲ ἀκολουθεῖ...
(You won’t find new lands, won’t find other seas.
The city will follow you...)

- Not Cavafy again!

- Sorry, I couldn't help it. When did you mean to
tell me?
- Tell you what?
- About the offer. I've heard it from one of your
colleagues.
- Just in case you forgot it, I'm on a fixed-term
contract, so they won't be my colleagues anymore.
And I didn't tell you about the offer, cause I had

48
to think about it. I mean, they offered me a 12-
month scholarship, with a research opportunity
during that period. And after that, who knows?
I'll certainly be in better position to attain regular
employment status.
- So, it looks like you've made your decision.
- It wasn't easy, to think of leaving my family,
leaving the town with all my friends, leaving
you... I'd have to go in September. But it's
something I have to do. Every so often I feel
trapped in my life, and it's not that I lack my
freedom, it's just that I have to change
something...
- You can start your change from here.
- It's not that simple. I mean, look at you! You're
so accomplished, doing what you do, loving what
you're doing, living of your work. You've even
got your name that means something to the
people outside...
- Yeah, tell that to my publisher...
- You know what I'm talking about. And what
about me? I'm in my thirties, when not living
with you I'm with my parents.
- Don't have to remind you that I'm in my forties...
- I will be too, pretty soon. I need to change this,
I need a radical change of my life, while there's
still time.
- So, marry me!
- You know you're not serious. You don't even
believe in marriage. I'll need some time to
prepare myself for leaving...

49
- There's whole summer ahead of you. Come
with me to the mountains, that old cabin haven't
seen a visitor for quite a long time.
- I'm afraid you'll have to go without me. I've
really got some preparation work to do before my
leaving. And that includes a couple of journeys to
the north...
- So, you're telling me I won't be seeing you for a
couple of months? Are we having a pause or a
separation?
- Consider it a pause. It'll give us both some time
to think about everything...
- It'll definitely give me some time to finish my
novel. Maybe it's better that way... Go on, I'll be
fine!
- I know you will.
"You won't find new lands..." He thought
about the lyrics as he watched her figure getting
smaller in the distance, and got a long forgotten
pack of cigarettes from his inner pocket. "Well, at
least there'll be no more restrictions on this one."
He lit up a cigarette, and got surprised by the
color of the smoke circles surrounding it. It
wasn't greyish, it was blueish haze...

He went to the mountains alone. Had a lot

of time to put some finishing touch to his book.
And it was about time, for the deadline given by
his publisher was extended twice. Living in a
mountain cabin, away from civilization, he never
thought he could do so good in gardening,
making his garden tidier than the room he was

50
working and sleeping in. But then, as the summer
was getting to its end, he spent more and more
time in his little piece of paradise, and those were
the moments he appreciated most. He could go
on like this for months, but he knew he'll have to
go back to his city life.
Counting down the last days of August,
he felt hard and full of sorrow. Those warm and
sunny days, and wonderful evenings that
followed each, made him desolate. Unlike the
earlier times, when this feeling was caused by the
awareness of all those moments never coming
back again, this year it was something different.
He knew that the day of her departure will arrive.

Parting... The saddest thing in a lifetime.

He met her by the corner shop in the main street.
She said she had to get her laptop finally fixed,
before taking a trip.
- So, you're finally leaving...
- Actually, I will be on my plane in a couple of
days... But yes, I guess I'm leaving. It's just for a
year, though.
- What are you going to do when you come back?
- stupid question, but there was nothing better
he could come up - I mean, it's quite a time to be
absent...
- Oh, I'm not worried! There'll be always
something to do, here or there...

51
 How right she was! From that day on, he
had to find all sorts of things to keep himself
occupied. Yes, even for him, there was always
something to do with his life. One might say it
was the best way to forget, to get her out of his
mind, day by day by day... But he knew it wasn't
the case. For him, it was some kind of
remembrance tactics, for so many things he did
for her and because of her, having and keeping
her picture in his memory. And never being sorry
for doing it.
- Good luck! - the last words he had ever said to
her.
Of course, she never came back. "So it
goes", he quoted Mr Vonnegut on that one. A
man much wiser than him once said that in a one
man's lifetime there is nothing sadder than
parting. He was right, too.

As for him, one more thing wasn't the

same from that day on. There was this strange
feeling, whenever he saw a plane taking its path
through the blue sky, that she was on it. Coming
to or leaving the town, he really didn't care, as
long as he kept himself believing that she is still
somewhere around, thus leaving the possibility of
a coincidental meeting opened. At least one...

- Tell me some more about the Ancients, o

Keeper! What else could they do?
- They were so proud, too proud, the Ancients...
They had these, they called them machines, they

52
could travel through the air, just like the birds!
They could pass vast distances, and they thought
they could control the skies, the waters, the
earth... How wrong they were! They couldn't
even control themselves!

Epilogue

He never finished his PhD thesis. She did

hers. It was something about some new teaching
methods in the so-called liquid society, and it
was such a revelation when he recognized his
own words, spoken during those endless
conversations they had on the topic. There were
even some sentences from his last novel, about
the future that awaits us if there's nothing done.
"So she read it..." Surprisingly for him, her work
ended in an optimistic note, concluding that the
much needed radical changes of educational
system are quite possible. Maybe there is hope
after all.
During the past years, he googled her
name, and not once - that much he could admit to
himself. He found her name on the list of
university staff, together with the address and the
phone number of her office. After all these years,
he thought about getting in touch with her. He
should contact her, at least as an old friend.
Someday he probably will.
Right now, he felt an enormous urge for
writing... He knew that his scientific work will
probably never be completed, but - regarding his

53
income from writing - maybe he should try
himself out in a new genre, other than science
fiction? There were some products of poetry
from his side, and one could tell they weren't
bad... Maybe he should even write some love
prose? A short story would be a good start. How
hard it could be? There's already a working title
in his mind, together with the traces of storyline...
Thinking of the title again, he got pretty much
attached to it. The headline of his first love story!
Yes, he'll definitely call it: Dialogues of the
Dinosaurs.

April 2023

54
SOME LYRICS
 Away from Silence

Away from silence

I was looking for you
Heart-stopping voices
Pain filled with choices
Wandering through

Away from silence

I was enjoying the noise
Forgetting about problems
Thinking of moments
Spent with you

Jumping into the crowd

Into the wildest beat
There's no better place
For two of us to meet
Forgetting my sorrow
Not thinking about you
And knowing one way
For those things to do
Away from silence

I'm running away from silence...

57
 Blue Eyes of Yours

Golden cover
On the Horus of the Horizon
Can't fulfill my need
To be much wiser
Nor revealing secrets
Of an ancient past
Can explain this feeling
That's just about to last

I ain't missing nothing

From the blue skies
I ain't missing no more
Laughs and cries
Like I've been waiting
For years and years
Too long
All I can think of
While my heart
Writes down this song

I am missing those
Blue eyes of yours...

58
 From Heaven to Hell

Sitting on a sidewalk
Waiting for you to play
This game I call compassion ‘cause
I am down and you’re up there
Well now, my bottle’s almost empty
But your reflection on it stays
If you wonder how I’m doing
Imagine you’re here in my place
And feel like you’re up from Heaven
Thrown down to Hell

That boy, he has no mother

Doesn’t need his father, too
Turning head when passing beside him
Shame on me and shame on you
I guess he’ll never realize
That there’s a better place somewhere
But at least he’ll have no feeling
Just like he’s missing something great
Or that he’s up from Heaven
Thrown down to Hell

Always in a hurry
Will I make it on time?
Well, the time is all that’s left for me
Nothing else that’s being mine
So excited, thrilled when finished
Like a great job had been done
Not aware of how truly empty

59
 All of my days have become
Like I’ve been up from Heaven
Thrown down to Hell

In a moment of awakeness
I will surely know I’m bare
Just like I’m up from Heaven
Thrown down to Hell
From Heaven to Hell...

60
 The Way You Make Me Feel

Tops of the mountains are right below us

And down below them stormy heights
Above us shiny blueish heaven
Trying to catch up with your eyes

Don't look for evidence of love

Some things you'll find might seem unreal
Instead just lean yourself on my side
And let me tell you how I feel

You make me feel like Byron in Sintra

His little creature smiling at him
The day he reached his truly vision
That's just the way you make me feel

The facts of Life are now colliding

Some say it's nothing but attempt
A bit suspicious, a bit approving
So often been to it's very end

So, don't ask for signs of my love

They're all over the universe
Inside the rocks & woods & hills & streams
And all those feelings unexpressed by words

61
 The Whistle

Always with a whistle

You're running through your life
Embracing winter with your sunny notion
Like there's not a thing
To be worried about

Life is changing
& the world is aging
But your whistle it stays so young
Like there's nothing more
Nothing to care for
It makes me
Wanna purse my lips
And try...

Always with a whistle

You're running through your life
There's nothing more
Nothing to care for
Really nothing
To be worried about
But the whistle...

62
 Times Gone By

Yes, it's true

I almost knew a girl like you
The way she looked
The way she walked
The way she talked
The way she smiled
It made me wanted to hide
Inside that heavenly face
Away from everything else
Living back in the past
Living in the times gone by...

I used to think I was something else

All sorts of stories
Waiting to tell
Those things I've done
Some might have been odd
Those days I'm thinking of you
I know how good it should be
When you're thinking of me
Living back in the past
Living in the times gone by...

And I don't wanna hide

I don't want to hide
From tomorrow
Cause you are all the things that
I will ever need..

63
 To Be A Better Man

With nothing more and nothing less

The days are flying around my head
And in my head some kind of mess
You know it's hard now to confess

When I see you when I feel you near me, in me

The sweetness of your smile
Those bright blue eyes
There's nothing else that I could do with myself
Well, you make me want to be a better man

With nothing more but nothing less

Those years are passing through my head
And not from joy, but to forget
I take some things to intoxicate

But then I see you, then I feel you near me, in me

The sweetness of your smile
Those bright blue eyes
There's nothing else that I could do with myself
You make me want to be a better man

So often see you, then I feel you near me, in me

More than ever now, when you're far away
There's nothing left, nothing to do with myself
Just trying to live & to be a better man...

64
 Whatever I Want

Wherever I go
It's always with you beside me
Whenever in need
It counts when I need you by me

Whatever I want
I want it with you beside me

Whatever to be
I'm nothing without you here
So easy to live
So hard to get truly near

Whatever I want
I want you to be beside me...

65