I would like to write…yes, write, Tears of joy, Drops of memory, Infusions of happiness
Poetry by USA-based Albania-born poetess Esmeralda Bregaj (Zace)
Esmeralda Bregaj (Zace), born in Vlore (Albania) in 1979, grew up in Italy and lives in the United States. She graduated in Business Management in 2001, in Albania, and obtained a second degree in Marketing and Business Management in 2008, in Italy. She is coordinator and administrative employee in the ELL program of elementary schools and middle schools in the district of Boise (Idaho, United States). She is a very happy mother of two beautiful children. She has been writing since the age of 9, when she won her first school literary competition with a poem. At 17, she arrived at the National Literary Competition in Albania and in 2010 won the Ibiskos National Award, Italy, publishing her first poetry collection in the “Myositis” series, entitled “The war of thoughts”. In 2013 she was included in the series of “Contemporary Poets” books directed by the poet Elio Pecora, Italy as the result of another National Literary Competition. In 2017 she won the “Dear love I write to you” competition, organized by Ibiskos Editrice Risolo, Italy, becoming part of the homonymous anthology of poems and short stories. In 2022 she published, “Un Anno di Noi” (“A Year of Us”) in Italian. In 2023 the same book was translated and published in Albanian. It was introduced by one of Albania’s premier author/editors and received rave reviews by no less than 11 fellow authors. It was covered in newspapers and public television. It is currently being translated into English and is expected to be out in early 2024.
I WOULD LIKE TO WRITE…YES, WRITE…
I would like to write…yes, write,
Tears of joy,
Drops of memory,
Infusions of happiness,
Because, I don’t feel perfect!!
I can write on the floor,
With a dazed pen,
With a plagiarized face
With lumps in my throat,
So, I would never feel alone!
I don’t live by memory
Madness joy,
Bright light
I live every moment!
I live between the lines,
Poetry is Life!
***
I KISSED THE TEARS
I threw some tears into the sea.
The sea sank and he could not raise his head!
I packed them beautifully like tears of joy
With a ribbon
Tape
And sturgeon flower.
The sea cried
And criticized me
Like a parent to his son.
Why did the tear go away!!!
Can I catch it?!
I demand
And ran without fear
Like the rabbit in the desert
That seeks life and holy water.
The tears didn’t asked permission,
Even to me
Even to the heart
Even to the sea
Even to the pain!
Without invitation the waves approached me.
Opening their wings
Feeling my heart
Swaddling me…
Like a baby to its mother.
The sea like a King
Touched his forehead
And drew love out of his chest,
The commodity of happiness.
Strangely enough,
It was enough to make me
Became a child again.
I collected the tears like raindrops
Feeling the taste of Joy!!
***
THE LAST CREATURE
Loyal is that man
Which makes your tired moons hide.
Loyal is that man who
Pull the knife from your wounds without arming yourself.
Loyal is that man
Who plants a rose on a scar!
Loyal is that man
Who can see inside you when the world is blind!
Loyal is that man who falls in love with you with the first sun
And
Dies with you with the last loyal moon!
The last creature
Is
The Man!
***
ONCE, WE WERE FRIENDS
How tired the stars are with me
Thirsty of their company
I sailed them every night.
How much do we talk without talking!
How many cigarettes and wine.
How many, many, many others to come.
We loved each other in silence
Like Jesus Christ to us.
And how much we got confused again,
And again… without no stop!
Real nudity at night
Fragile like autumn
Hot as wine.
We played.
We grew up
We got old.
We still don’t talk…
In betrayal and in wealth,
You are a believer or an enemy!
There is no parliament room where happiness is judged,
Believe or not my friend! I tried!
How tired the stars are with me
And I never knew,
Or I didn’t want to know
That they were the only ones
Real
Friends!
And I got old once
When I released, I was alone.
________________
Received from Angela Kosta Academic writer, poet, essayist, literary critic, editor, translator, journalist
