Poem by Dritëro Agolli translated by Eros Angjeli

I won't be here

I won't be here, I’ll be gone
Dissolved underground like many others
At the favorite café
The waiters won’t see me

And through the roads I’ve walked
My dry cough won’t be heard
Above my grave will silently stand
An orchard like a miserable monk

You will be saddened
Because you won’t have me alive in a room
And when the wind blows on the window
You will cry slowly with the wind

But when you are really sad
Look through the bookshelves for me,
I’ll be hiding there
Between words and letters

You’ll only need to move the book
And I’ll come down, I’ll come near you
You will laugh nostalgically like you once did
Like a blooming meadow after heavy rain


Ketu s’do jem

Këtu s'do jem do jem larguar
Ne tokë I tretur si te tjerët
Ne kafenenë e preferuar
Nuk do më shohin kamarieret

Dhe nëpër udhet ku kam ecur
S'do ndihet kolla ime e thatë
Mbi varrin tim do të rrijë I heshtur
Nje qipariz si murg I ngratë

Ti do trishtohesh ateherë
Se s'do me kesh ne dhome te gjallë
Dhe kur ne xham te fryje erë
Do qash me erën dalengadale

Por kur te jesh merzitur shumë
Ne raft te librave kerkomë
Aty do jem I fshehur unë
Ne ndonje fjalë a ndonjë shkronjë

Mjafton qe librin pak ta heqesh
Dhe un do te zbres do t'vi prane teje
Ti si dikur me mall do qeshësh
Si nje blerim pas nje rëkeje.


Poem by Dritero Agolli, translated from the Albanian by Eros Angjeli. Click here for a previously published poem by Agolli translated by Kristi Bojdani.