Maybe one day I’ll be safe and sound… Deep in my heart I’ll seek and see, but also in nameless stalagmites.
Rakela Yzeiri (Zoga), an eminent poetess from Albania, shares her poetry.
Rakela Yzeiri (Zoga) was born in the city of Korça, Albania. She currently lives and works in Greece. Her passion for literature was early, but she would reach artistic maturity after higher studies at the “Language – Literature” Faculty, where she presented herself and affirmed her name in the most popular publications of the time, in the most important periodicals of the country; “Zëri i Rinisë” (Voice of the Youth), “Drita” (Light), “Nëntori” (November), and others. After that, her literary creativity was published in many newspapers, literary magazines and several anthologies in Albania, Kosovo, Greece, Italy, etc. These publications established her creative personality and wider recognition in the field of letters. Rakela is a special voice, a poet of lyricism and exaltation, and as such she travels through verse, in the inexhaustible muse and colors that touch the soul. She lives with poetry, meets silence and dreams, merges with words and all this to experience true art and leave an indelible mark in Albanian literature. She has published the poetic volumes: Let’s remain friends; Come tonight; Swan in the fog; Wake up on an autumn day.
MAYBE ONE DAY …
I tell you never woo me again,
No time for sadness to embrace…
I soothed my heart with much pain,
Forgot that Fall an’ body in grace..
Never again try with caresses,
For I can’t laugh, joy’s left apart,
My lips, that time gave you sweet kisses,
Now they are hostage to a cold heart…
My eyes are turning almost blind
Their power of sight taken away..
Although my sight now declined..
Much light I find from a Sun’s ray..
I ask you now: Away from me…
Maybe one day I’ll be safe and sound…
Deep in my heart I’ll seek and see,
But also in nameless stalagmites.
***
THE KISS
It was a kiss in the night,
That angered the heavens.
The moon was blotted out,
And the sea was further away.
You chose the sad path
Of leaving.
The kiss hid in the heart of the wave.
The sea roared,
The wave crashed on the shore.
I searched for that kiss, in the night.
But in vain, it was crushed…
Beneath the foam, so white.
***
IT HAPPENS
He has no place to put his pain.
There is no more carpet on his skin.
His hands are withered, his hair is gray,
He used to fly, they made way for him.
I remember falling in love years ago.
Only I know, from a distant beam.
He was so handsome his eyes’ glow
Each night in bed I kept him in my dreams.
With tears of longing, I came by once.
Kiss me on the cheek I said that day.
And then he took my hands by surprise.
I was so ashamed that I ran away.
I remember my love, the years over there
His heart remained, memories of a dove.
I happened to love, for love is in the air.
But it also happens to die without love.
***
AH, IF YOU KNEW
Oh please, do not, you must not leave!
Since many a year your dad has gone,
I kept his tears within my eyes,
His heart with mine that time were one!
While he would walk, the world did smile,
To have a look, folks stopped in street,
When rain would fall, his face did laugh,
He bit his boredom under his lip!
He loved the nature, talked to the mount,
Close to Morava and sky above,
So in the silent city of longing,
Sleeps and wakes up with Korca’s love.
(Translation into English by Alfred Kola)
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Prepared by Angela Kosta Academic, journalist, writer, poet, essayist, literary critic, editor, translator
