Migjeni (1911-1938 / Albania)

Broken melody -- tear sparkling in the eye
Of a woman loved...
Please past,
Jewel lost,
A trampled dream
Lips unkissed
In the broken melody.

With silent sobs the naked shoulders shake,
Their whiteness dazzling...
Stabbed, stabbed with remorse
For the moments of mindlessness,
For her ruined fate,
For the happiness lost
In the broken melody.

Face hidden in her hands in shame,
Remorsefully the woman weeps,
With heart despairing
(A broken guitar,
A voice stifled
On lips kissed by pain
In the broken melody).

Silent he stands beside the woman weeping
Scolding tears of shame
That dim her eyes.
Some money on the table quickly lays
And goes away,
Leaving the woman lost
In the broken melody.

But when another comes, lust mounts again,
The heated blood
Pounds furiously through the veins,
Benumbing mind
... and only gasps
And grants are heard
In the horrid melody.