A chance meeting with a children's poet who carried Christ in his eyes

The author recounts a chance encounter at a post office where an elderly man yielded his place with the words "Ladies have priority." His face radiated such warmth that the meeting lost any sense of randomness. She introduced herself as Jelena; he gave his name as Slobodan.

Moved by his presence, she asked to record him to show friends a man who, in her words, carried Christ in his eyes. Slobodan spoke of his love for children, saying nothing was more beautiful than a child's smile and that his whole life he wrote for the youngest. He mentioned living in Zabelje. The author listened with wonder, reminded of a Holy Mountain ascetic, a person whose presence does not seek attention yet leaves an indelible trace.

She sent the recording to close friends, who saved it. Recently they sent it back to her with the news that Slobodan Bećo Došljak, a children's poet who gave his books to children, had reposed. The ordinary day became a memory whose value she now feels more deeply. She thanks God for the meeting, prays that his verses continue to live in children's hearts and that his memory remains in the souls of those who met him, and ends with the prayer for eternal memory and the Kingdom of Heaven.