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Albanian Literature in English

all translated by Robert Elsie

http://www.albanianliterature.com/

analistja shume interesante ky informacion qe ke percielle.

Some poems in English

From Ali Podrimja

It is the Albanian's fault

It is the Albanian's fault
That he breathes
And walks on two legs

That I take tranquillizers
And swat flies all day
In the Toilet

It is the Albanian's fault
That he besmirches your wife
And frightens my family

That my hand cannot reach the apple
On the highest branch
That he has filled the Well with dead words

It is the Albanian's fault
That not more of Turkey exists,
More of America of Norway

That the Gulag is so far away

That they chose me and sent me
To sniff him out
Does death smell

It is all the more the Albanian's fault
That he does not eat
Or close his eyes and sleep

That our sewers are broken
And the Catacombs of the Balkans
Have fallen into ruins

It is the Albanian's fault
That he whiles away the time under the moon
And breaks windows and stirs up muddy water

That he speaks Albanian that he eats Albanian
that he shits Albanian

It is the Albanian's fault
The Albanian is the one at fault
For all my undoings

Both for my broken tooth
And for my frozen smile
So therefore: BULLET

Ha ha ha
Ha ha
Ha

May God have mercy!

---------


Who will slay the wolf

(for F. Altimari)

And the gentleman said

Should you happen to come upon
An Albanian and a wolf
Slay the Albanian

When the Albanian heard the saying
He smiled
And rolled himself a cigarette

If you slay me
my poor friend
Who will slay
The wolf

Poor herds

(Cosenza)

------


Now lets go to some of the best Kadare's poems. (it looses some of its flavour when translated in english)

CRYSTAL
by Ismail Kadare
world-famous novelist and poet from the Hoxha period
still living in France

(translated by Zana Banci and Anthony Weir)

It's a long time since we saw each other and I feel
I am forgetting you. The memory of you
Dies in me day by day,
The memory of your hair
And everything about you.
Now I'm looking everywhere
For a place to drop you
A line, a verse, or crystal kiss -
And so depart.

If no grave will receive you,
No marble nor crystal sepulchre -
Will I have to keep you always with me
Half-dead and half-alive ?

If I can't find a chasm to drop you into
I'll look for a lawn or field
Where I will scatter you softly
Like pollen.

Perhaps I'll trick you into an embrace -
And go away irrevocably
And neither of us will know the other.
This is forgetting isn't it?

The National Anthem of the Republic of Albania
"Pledge to the Flag"

United around the flag
With one desire and one goal
Let us pledge our word of honor
To fight for our salvation
Only he who is a born traitor
Averts from the struggle
He who is brave is not daunted
But falls - a martyr to the cause
With arms in hand we shall remain
To guard our fatherland round about
Our rights we will not bequeath
Enemies have no place here
For the Lord Himself has said
That nations vanish from the earth
But Albania shall live on
Because for her, it is for her that we fight


(It doesn't sound as good as in Albanian therefore I am including the Albanian version too)

"Betimi mbi flamur"

Rreth flamurit te perbashkuar
Me nje deshire dhe nje qellim
Te gjithe Atij duke iu betuar
Te lidhim besen per shpetim
Prej lufte vec ay largohet
Qe eshte lindur tradhetor
Kush eshte burre nuk friksohet
Po vdes, po vdes si nje deshmor
Ne dore armet do t'i mbajme
Te mbrojme Atdheun ne cdo vend
Te drejtat tona ne s'i ndajme
Ketu armiqte s'kane vend
Se Zoti vet e tha me goje
Qe kombe shuhen permbi dhe
Po Shqiperia do te rroje
Per te, per te luftojme ne

A piece by Ali Podrimja



It is the Albanian's fault
That he breathes
And walks on two legs

That I take tranquillizers
And swat flies all day
In the Toilet

It is the Albanian's fault
That he besmirches your wife
And frightens my family

That my hand cannot reach the apple
On the highest branch
That he has filled the Well with dead words

It is the Albanian's fault
That not more of Turkey exists,
More of America of Norway

That the Gulag is so far away

That they chose me and sent me
To sniff him out
Does death smell

It is all the more the Albanian's fault
That he does not eat
Or close his eyes and sleep

That our sewers are broken
And the Catacombs of the Balkans
Have fallen into ruins

It is the Albanian's fault
That he whiles away the time under the moon
And breaks windows and stirs up muddy water

That he speaks Albanian that he eats Albanian
that he shits Albanian

It is the Albanian's fault
The Albanian is the one at fault
For all my undoings

Both for my broken tooth
And for my frozen smile
So therefore: BULLET

Ha ha ha
Ha ha
Ha

May God have mercy!