Jeton Kelmendi English Poems Poem by Jeton Kelmendi Poét

Jeton Kelmendi Translated by Fredi Proko

To the edge of the going
The yet to come is waiting for us

ILLYRIAN

Your body weight
Your air power
The speed slowdown
Are immesurable
There are no limits to your light
Either
There is no measure of your radiance
Or
You are superlative that exceeds all dimensions
I swear to my word’s soul
You’re
A crumb of forgetfuless
Beyond the ear or the eye
For hundreds and thousands of years
You’re
A bright thought
And never
Has anybody ever been able to appraise you
My god given homeland that conferred me my name
Albanian

Auderghem, February 2007


FOR ENCOURAGEMENT

One day
My day will come
If indeed it’s true that
Every dog has it’s day,
And I will know how to welcome it
Then the soil will be as bountiful in bread
And the spring in water
That it will fill all the gaps
But alas
What are we to do with you
Distrust in tomorrow,
Deplorable is that day

Vienna, summer 2006



MISS WORD AND MR THOUGHT

1.

I’ve spoken rather
Differently
Too triumphantly
Miss
I hope
You take no offence
They are after all
Merely a poet’s words
And you know that it’s permissable
To strip the dressed thoughts
Stark naked
And the bare ones
To dress with suits I fancy
Or
Has it been just as well for you
That I simply tell you I love you
The words everybody tells
To anybody
As a husband to his own wife,
Miss
I beg to differ

2.

Well
Thought is no good without the word
Or the word
Means nothing if mind is not engaged
You are such a dear,
You are Miss word
And I Mr. thought
This is how I’ve always seen it
Myself with you and yourself with me
Even
This love formula
Anywhere
If at all it survived
Modernity

So Miss word, you are attractive
When Mr. thought
Lends you his charm




3.

Come on
Let’s make up ‘cause
Silence
Is anxiously watching
What’s gonna happen with us

Anyway
Miss word
I feel like giving you a kiss
Only one
As I’m not sure how
A second or third may come
Let freedom live unfettered

Let the word
The mind
Speak whatever
They want

I now want
The first kiss

Paris, July 2006


UNDER MEMOY’S SHADE

I’d told you something forgotten
That which can’t be recalled not even tomorrow
Forgetfulness grows ever older
When silence travels
I’m waiting for you
At the sun-dried oak
In que with the verse
Hung on the tip of my longing
Where one normally waits for his sweetheart
I sat down to rest
Till autumn runs out and light wears on
I attempted
To tell you but something.

June,2004







THE WORD SIDESTEPPED SILENCE

I used to keep silent
Yesterday
In order to speak a bit
I’ve inhaled sorrow’s breath
I’ve always set off
To remote regions
Towards your eyes
To you
To quietly speak to you
To tell you
About you
And me
I’ve endeavoured
To tell you
That you’re
The bread of lines
The water of the word
I for you
The most sung song
Ever
I wanted to keep silent
To scarcely speak
To become a shadow
To prevent the sun’s light
I’ve wanted
To get over
All humanity’s
Mishaps
And I’ve seen
How I could
Find myself
Closer to you
Soon or later
Yesterday
I’ve strived
To enjoy to the fullest

May 2005, Prishtina










MOMENT

Were I to be rain
Tonight
I’d sprinkle a dropp
On your face
And such a dropp
That rolls down gently
The look in front of you
What are you doing with this moment
I leave again surreptitiously
You better think about the next moment


CADENCE

I recited to myself
The severed threads of the saga
It’s good
To hold them in our hands
Fairminded lady
Who all stays alone,
Repose by the fireplace sometimes.
You’ve never looked like today
In the blink of an eye
A word
Sprouted on the soil of the tongue
And grew up to the sky
And put down roots to the depths of earth
Today looks after tomorrow
Behind us new waters and lands.
A poet’s lines
Together with his solitude
Hello Drin, cold water river
I’ll see you some day
Between your banks.

Brussels 2007-02-27












HER RITES

After all
It’s a fresh start
And there’s no way how you can go in silence
No way leads me to you
Sooner than today
My star set
And the higher I go
The lower does the fog take me
Oh, had I experienced a genuine love
I’d dread nothing
And it’s not a bad thing to dream
Do consider this mate,
A platoon of efforts
A prophetic thought
Whirling
Bring me to you
Doesn’t matter that you are wrapped in your word
Make some room for me
At poetry

Vienna 2006



CHATTING WITH MY BROTHER IN ARMS

Before I have a chat with you
I would like to ask you about the highlands

The torrents which used to rush in the past springs,
How’s been the weather like this year

I far away, and you close by

The word has gone cold
The summer doesn’t feel like staying with us

Where the slate pierced by the dropp dwells
Who is singing on the slopes

How early we’ve set out
And we’re not nearly there yet

Brussels,20 February




THE COMING

They saw her off to here
Due to the great fear of their own self
Day and night
Accompanied her pace
They took with her
All that was to come
From here to the end of the going
A yet to come is waiting for us


THE GOING

Take with you all her belongings
They will show her the ways,
All her threads are blown as if in the wind
I wonder why she’s not coming again
Footstep after footstep
As if on top of motion
On her head
Autumns cross over here
How silent is the begging
How the going closes like solitude
Who knows that
The coming and going are ahead


BACKDROP

I’m still waiting, the croud of coming
Is seeing off files of goings
The March morning has dawned
Of our long nights
See you beyond the time