Επιμέλεια: Εύα Πετροπούλου Λιανού
Our mountains continue to grow,
and for a short time they will touch the sky,
they will carry there a stone and a little earth,
where God will swear:
For this stone that I carry on my back,
for this sky, mixed with the earth!
Our mountains continue to grow,
until God himself sits upon them,
then they will sit again,
and God will decrease.
Then people will swear:
For this God that I see with eyes!
and they will be healed.
Our mountains speak to God,
and his voice,
an echo comes to hearth.
We swear by His echo:
For this God who entered in house,
for this God who became human!
The gulls and the angels
I prayed to God to be a person,
I begged the human to behave like a god!
The gulls heared
and sat on my arms.
and began to cry in tears.
The angels landed
from a white cloud
and began to talk
with the human without a voice.
The image of the God
landed the sky in the ground,
glowed like a fire
and leaked goodness under it.
You will always be there!
As you grew up,
I believed and doubted,
that God became human, my son.
To me you looked
like the sky approaching.
They told me
that God is love.
I believed
and did not doubt.
I believed in you,
without consciousness,
with father’s feeling.
I believed the threshold,
and the land,
the smoke,
that increases my chest,
the spirit,
that connects me with you,
in the name of the son,
the fireplace and the ashes.
The sky grows over the years
and it leaves…
And you leave as well,
but you will always be there,
You will always be there
whenever it be needed.
Nikollë Loka was born in Mirdita Albania on March 25, 1960; graduated as a teacher at “Luigj Gurakuqi” University of Shkodra; master’s degree in pedagogy at the University of Tirana, doctorate in history of education at the University of Tirana. He worked as a teacher, principal in a high school and education inspector in the district of Mirdita, then a teacher in a high school in Tirana and a lecturer at “Aleksandër Xhuvani” University in Elbasan. Lives in Tirana. Author of ten poetic volumes in Albanian and three poetic volumes in Italian (two of which with co-authors); included in the anthology “La Poesie contemporaine albanaise”, “L’Hartmattan” publications, Paris 2024. In addition to Albanian, his poems have been published in Italian, English, French, German, Arabic, Romanian, Swedish and Mecedonian. Winner of several literary awards in the country and abroad. Member of several national and international literary associations. Included in the Lexicon of Albanian writers 1501-2001, editions “Faik Konica”, Pristina 2003 and in the Encyclopedia of Italian language poets, “Aletti Editore” Rome 2022; The poetic anthology “33 years of Albanian poetry” 1991- 2023.
