DCLXVI

The pagans will hang me on the cross
Like a slave fled to the forest,
Yet I saved them, I saved them
And told them: "I am."

(Oh Father, my Father, do not forsake me)

I grew weary of sleepless nights,
Of friends who forsook me,
Left me all alone, by myself,
And they declare me mad
And mock me before the people.

(Oh Father, my Father, do not forsake me)

The six hundred and sixty-sixth one
Raised his fists and bared his teeth,
Menaced me with a cold and sombre cell,
With a stripped bed and a foodless board,
And I forgave him, I forgave him,
And told him: "I am."

They placed purple robes o'er my shoulders
And spread their garments in my path
With their tears they bathed my feet,
And dried them with the strands of their hair,
Oh Father, my Father,
Like a slave fled to the forest
The pagans will hang me on the cross.

[DCLXVI, from the volume Të qenët të mosqenë, Prishtina: Rilindja, 1990, p. 40. Translated from the Albanian by Robert Elsie]