NIKOLLË LOKA

 

 

Down The Balcony

 

The evening shades fall aslant

towards the stairs.

Down the balcony lay the bushes,

Lay the wood, the long abysses.

Down the balcony lay the quinces,

lay the apples,

the muses,

the wells

and the waves of Jon.

Shade after shade until the last hill

fears lay down,

the shakings the rains,

the equations

and the doubts.

Down the balcony are the winters,

Are the ups and the downs.

Down the balcony are the muses,

arë the lemons,

the hands

and the passing desires

a flight of waves that fade.

 

I Searched For You

Until The End Of The World

 

I came after you in a world

where there was no end

The end and the beginning were me.

Suddenly,

I turned away

Your feet walked the untrodden forest of dreams,

Across the vast valleys

The soul pushes me to go further

Where there is no sun and no moon

Until I thought I discovered

The mystery of running from myself

And coming back to you.

 

When the time ends

When the time ends

and everything is left behind,

undressed from myth,

the revelation becomes a question mark.

In graveyard statues

yesterday waits for today

and the refrain of the absence - clear repentance.

In crossed souls, eternity becomes an epitome,

the cross falls in the ground like a shadow,

the shackled oblivious ideals are freed,

a breath of flowers of eternity wakes up and rises,

in venues of second guesses

of sleep and awakening...

 

Vagary That Does Not Sleep

 

After me, a blind river pours wrath,

in a sea view I gather water pain.

I read the time in marks of sun,

history, and vagary.

Waterfalls of history that were never trodden,

water that sleeps but lies not under the bridge.

Vagary that begets

or descends from the sky!

Vagary that does not sleep.

 

I Have Met A Man

Who Used To Smile Only

 

I have met a man who used to smile only,

before he repented caught in guilt.

I have met a man who used to be happy simply in vain,

without ever explaining himself

why the world bursts out in tears.

 

I have asked him how does he know the world,

which seems upside down!

And after every question I have received tens of answers

that convinced me not!

 

So, I have waited that one day he would ask himself,

simply in vain a question made public!

But I was afraid he would not reply,

so, I have run and, in the silence,

I have seen the world undressed, naked!

 

NIKOLLË LOKA

 

NIKOLLË LOKA was born in Sang of Mirdita 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, education inspector and a lecturer at university.  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 2021, then in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Mirdita, editions "Emal", Tirana 2021.