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Nikollë Loka’s two poems

I know the sea is grieving


I know that the sea is grieving

in the middle of a waterlogged winter,

I feel sea fever at the end of December,

and fires that fade without making noise.

I'm afraid, it is getting cold!

I shiver from the wind that blows,

and like the sea

I don't feel quite well,

even in the midst of June,

when the entire world refreshes itself in the water willingly,

not violently,

when the waves fade in the branches of the foreign blood

and the fires burn in the eyes of a cyclops.

I know that the sea is grieving.

The magnet of the soul


A wave of your soul

was burned with thirst,

and that fire

made the sky blue.

I have turned into a stone

that waits the other wave,

to clean off the passion

or the passion to clean me off,


In the mirror of time

you embroider the blue,

from my stone,

violet water drop

and the blue blood

that you mention so many times,

I feel

how it dripps amongst seas.

That blueness

set under the skin,

the heart drowns in the lake.

In seven sources

that come from the same rock

my soul mentions you.

And your sky

remained just like a cloud,

a magic of your eyes

a mirror.

My magnet soul

that attracts you,

your magnet soul

that only pushes me.

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 and education inspector in the district of Mirdita, then a teacher in a high school in Tirana and a lecturer at “Aleksandër Xhuvani” University in Elbasan. Lives in Tirana. Author of nine 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. Invited to television and radio shows dedicated to literature. Editor and reviewer of several literary works, mainly in poetry. 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 in the Encyclopedia of Italian language poets, “Aletti Editore” Rome 2021 and in Poetry anthology 1991-2023 (33 years of Albanian poetry), “Fiorentia” publications, Shkodër 2023.

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