My passing
Twenty-five years of my
passing,
I took away with me what I
could,
what I couldn’t take I
left behind.
Chamomile field wasn’t
handpicked by anyone else
and some mimosa trees in
Students΄ City remained without grasping.
(In March, I used to
prepare the most beautiful bouquets)
There was left behind that
little child with blond hair
at the door holding that
paperboard:
Mihal Grameno Street, No.
6.
God's hand remained in the
air
and two eyes looking at
the back through the bursts of tears.
All of those were taken
away by the river.
I did not even have time
to cry.
Twenty-five years of my
passing,
what I took away with me
I am keeping it on the
palm of my hand
by eating my heart out.
What I left behind
was a girl who became a
woman.
--tr. Laureta Petoshati
Early Morning In Tirana -- Ylli Haruni
Student City (Qyteti Studenti), which houses the students of the Universiteti i Tiranës (University of Tirana), is in the southwestern part of the city.
ReplyDeleteThe Albanian National Awakening (Rilindja Kombëtare) began in 1870 and lasted until the creation of an independent Shqipëri in 1912. As a teenager Mihal Grameno emigrated to Romania and became involved with the Rilindja Kombëtare in Bucharest. In 1907 he joined a small kachak band led by Çerçiz Topulli, but in two years its only activity was when its five members were surrounded by 150 Turkish troops in Mashkullore; four of the rilindas managed to escape, however. In 1909 he founded the Orthodox League (Lidhja Ortodokse) in his hometown, Korçë, and edited its newspaper until 1910. From 1915 to 1919 he edited the weekly Koha (Time) in Jamestown, New York, then represented Shqipëri through the Albanian-American community at the Paris Peace Conference. The following year he returned to Shqipëri and continued his journalistic and literary activities until Zog I forced him to retire from public life. He died in 1931.