Music

I listen to the music of the night
When waves fall,
All colours faded
And the moon descends
Behind the trees.
I am not at home here
Yet neither do I feel foreign.
I will kiss the brow
Of the girl who knocks at the door
And asks in my language
If I'd like some coffee.
Perhaps she thinks
I have learnt the language
To use it on my travels,
And does not know the secret
Of our blood ties.

[Muzikë, from the volume Burime, Tirana: Naim Frashëri 1985, p. 48, translated from the Albanian by Robert Elsie, and first published in English in An elusive eagle soars, anthology of modern Albanian poetry, London: Forest Books 1993, p. 62]