doublespeakmag

Nikollë Loka’s three poems

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 receieved 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!

You will change


You will change

what is the point of an evening that comes

and your shadow

and the end of a day

that leaves when the sun stays distant

and the moon does not draw near.

The dusk stops for a while waiting to decay

the dusk falls in the darkness

the horizons close in the meantime,

the absences collapse in nothingness.

Slowly even your shadow abandons you

and here comes the hour

when there is no evening left!

What the dusk is speaking today

everyone thinks is meant for tomorrow

a new dawn where you have to change

and you will change no matter what!

You will appear to me

 

If You will appear to me

like a tomorrow,

I'll become the present

that follows you

from behind.

I see you far

and I miss you among rays

until the unlucky twilight.

 

In my twilight

you are a fried mirror,

in the darkness that blackens

and burns you.

I understand

that I sill miss you

among rays

that come

from another sun.

Nikollë Loka was born in Sang of Mirdita on March 25, 1960; graduated as a teacher at “Luigj Gurakuqi” University of Shkodra. He has a master’s degree in pedagogy at the University of Tirana, doctorate in history of education at the University of Tirana, lives in Tirana. He is the author of ten poetic volumes in Albanian and three poetic volumes in Italian (two of which with co-authors). In addition to Albanian, his poems have been published in Italian, English, French, German, Romanian and Swedish. He has been invited to television and radio shows dedicated to literature. He is also the editor and reviewer of several literary works, mainly in poetry. He has won several literary awards in the country and abroad and has been a member of several national and international literary associations. His works are 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 .

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