Endowed in perpetuity by the Glenna Luschei Fund for Excellence

Autumn in Durrës

Autumn in Durrës

Arian Leka

Vjeshta në Durrës

The September wind
Has thrust its arrows into the trees,
Freezing the blood of the foliage,
And this is a sign
For the fruit that they must die in their sleep.

No one drowns in the sea but the Çamian widows
Who wash their bloomers in autumn's sorrows.

The waters must be fed on sifting sand and the rust of ships
By the one brought to the plains by last year's wind
Like the feathered bed of a beloved corpse
Where no one comes to sleep anymore,
Not even the waves madly chanting in their low roar.

I cover myself in leaves as I painfully bury with bird feathers,
Azure sea lilies and seaweed
The Çamian widows unwinding their white braids over a well.

Shiu shtatorit
ngul shigjetën në shelg
gjethes iu ftoh gjaku
dhe kjo
është shenjë për frutat që vdesin në gjumë.

Askush nuk mbytet në det
veç plakave çame
që lajnë tumanet me gjynahun e vjeshtës.

Baticat ushqehen me rërë të situr
në gumë
ndryshk anijesh
nga ai që era e vjetme
mbolli si prush.

Shtrati me susta
ku nuk vjen të bëjë gjumë askush
shtrohet me skelete gjethesh
gëlasa kumrish
teksa të vdekurin e dashur
varros në gushë
dhe emrin me mëngë ia prish.

NOTE: This poem first appeared in the book Strabizëm.

Robert Elsie


NOTE: This poem first appeared in Albanian Literature in Translation

Translation