Fatos Arapi Poems

On the shoulders of my times
I rested my head.
I did not sleep. I did not doze.
On the shoulders of my times,
As on Her shoulder
I was lost in thought.
...

Like the linden tree, words spread their fragrance through the twilight,
Deep in the words I have spoken,
As in the depths of the Ionian,
I see my face.
...

Life is a railway station of partings and meetings.
We are constant travellers,
Holding in our hands our inseparable baggage,
A little suitcase
Of struggles, onslaughts and memories.
...

I dived into the waters of the Ionian Sea,
Into its hues and light.
I swim in a blaze of mirages,
...

The two of us were once
Like sky and sea:
If one clouded over, the other grew dark,
...

They are constantly entering poems,
day and night.
They do not wait for the heavy gates to be opened
By intellectual love, by refined, delicate thinking.
...

Sultan Murat sat astride his steed
And observed the prisoner bound hand and foot:
His advanced age, his wounds, his chains...
‘Albanian,' he inquired, ‘Why do you fight
When you could live differently?'
‘Because, Padishah,' replied the prisoner,
‘Every man has a piece of the sky in his breast,
And in it flies a swallow.'
...

Autumn has poured its colours into my soul.

The colours of my soul
I have decanted
Into the coming days.
...

I am leaving without saying good-bye to the sea.

This one time
I did not foray to those familiar banks to bid farewell
To the gulls. I can no longer bear their absence.
Perhaps I am growing old,
...

You will come, my beloved, will you not?
Because you know I am waiting for you,
Listening to the heavy breath of evening,
Listening to the whisper of the wait,
...