George Castrioti

Every time the frost comes
We recall Your name,
The first and the second,
We do our best to teach it to the children.

Names arise from the shades of the past.
Nish, Kruja, Albulena and Berat.
And again the two names: the first and the second,
One for oneself, one for the others.

Every time the frost comes
We recall Your name.
The living, the suffering. What value has life
When nourished by past memories?

The children, who learn names quickly,
Do not want only this, they want more,
They want life, a name for themselves,
The children who do not thrive on memories.

Every time the frost comes
We recall Your name,
When the barking of dogs in the night
Destroys the profound and infinite silence.

A name for oneself and one for the others,
Making amends for life
Ask the children when they grow up.
They know no memories, only dreams.

[Gjergj Kastrioti, from the volume Leja e njohtimit, Prishtina: Rilindja, 1985, p. 13.
First published in English in An Elusive Eagle Soars, Anthology of Modern Albanian Poetry,
London: Forest Books 1993, p. 186. Translated from the Albanian by Robert Elsie]