The writer widely considered to be the father of modern Albanian poetry in Yugoslavia, Esad Mekuli (1916-1993), was not born in Kosova itself but in the mountain village of Plava on the Montenegrin-Albanian border where national traditions are still revered. Mekuli went to school in Peja on the Kosova side of the wild Rugova canyon and studied veterinary medicine at the University of Belgrade. There he came into contact with Marxist teachings and subsequently took part in the partisan movement of World War II. In 1949, he founded the literary periodical Jeta e re <\/em>(New life), whose editor-in-chief he remained until 1971.<\/p>\n

Mekuli was a committed poet of social awareness whose outrage at injustice, violence, genocide and suffering mirrors that of the pre-revolutionary verse of the messianic Migjeni of Shkodra. His first collection, P\u00ebr ty<\/em>, Prishtina 1955 (For you), was dedicated to the people of Kosova. His final collection, Drita q\u00eb nuk shuhet<\/em>, Prishtina 1989 (The light that does not go out), appeared over thirty years later. Mekuli also published translations of much Yugoslav literature, including the works of the Montenegrin poet-prince Petar Njegosh (1813-1851), as well as Serbian translations of many volumes of Albanian literature.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Longing for the Unobtainable<\/strong><\/p>\n

Like lambs on the hillsides clouds frolic on high
\nAs a longing for the unobtainable permeates my being:<\/p>\n

How I long to join in the dance of the crimson clouds
\nAnd soar to the dazzling heights
\nIn the rapture of a pastoral song…<\/p>\n

And when the moonlight floods the valleys
\nCasting silvery rays upon ears of corn,
\nAnd the earth calls out in nocturnal desire,
\nLet me go
\nAnd visit
\nThe extremities of my suffering and the haunts of my anguish.<\/p>\n

Alas! My heart yearns
\nTo join in the dance of the crimson clouds –
\nFor my youth to exalt and rejoice
\nAnd for my aching heart to burst with longing.<\/p>\n

But why does my heart beat with nostalgia,
\nlike a quivering voice,
\nAnd fear plunge into the depths of my heart and soul?<\/p>\n

Whenever I contemplate the clouds over the city,
\nWhenever longing for the unobtainable permeates my being.<\/p>\n

[Malli p\u00ebr t\u00eb pamb\u00ebrrijtshmen<\/em>, from the volume Brigjet<\/em>, Prishtina: Rilindja 1981, p. 14. First published in English in An Elusive Eagle Soars, Anthology of Modern Albanian Poetry<\/em>, London: Forest Books 1993, p. 28. Translated from the Albanian by Robert Elsie]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Turk, Elhamdulila<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Turks took up the sword,
\nEurope trembled, shuddered.
\nAnd we too in Kosova fought
\nFor our beloved freedom.<\/p>\n

They attacked with fire and sword,
\nFor centuries our freedoms were lost,
\nThe tyrant overran us:
\n‘You are a Turk, elhamdulila!’<\/p>\n

Religion and nation were the same,
\nMoslem and Turk were one.
\nHe wanted us to forget our very names:
\n‘You are a Turk, elhamdulila!’<\/p>\n

He forbade our language too,
\nTo speak no Turkish was to be an infidel.
\nIt is the word of God, they told us:
\n‘You are a Turk, elhamdulila!’<\/p>\n

‘You are a Turk, you are a Turk,’ they thundered
\nAt the Albanians for centuries,
\nAnd one day one of us uttered:
\n‘I am a Turk, elhamdulila!’<\/p>\n

But no, Turks we are not!
\nNever! Let everyone know
\nWe have always been Albanians;
\nReligion cannot wipe that away!<\/p>\n

No, Turks we are not!
\nBut their working people we love.
\nAfter times of blood and gloom
\nWe shall go forth – hand in hand!<\/p>\n

[Turk elhamdulila<\/em>, from the volume Brigjet<\/em>, Prishtina: Rilindja 1981, p. 72. First published in English in An Elusive Eagle Soars, Anthology of Modern Albanian Poetry<\/em>, London: Forest Books 1993, p. 29. Translated from the Albanian by Robert Elsie]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Is it the Albanian’s Fault?<\/strong><\/p>\n

(1938. On hearing of the secret agreement to expel four hundred thousand so-called \u2018Turks\u2019 from \u2018southern Serbia\u2019 to the wilds of Anatolia, 65 Kosova students (56 Serbs and Montenegrins, 8\u00a0Albanians and 1 Turk) signed and published a protest (in Serbo-Croatian and Albanian) against the Yugoslav government for this crime against the people. The protest was transmitted illegally to foreign embassies in Belgrade and distributed throughout Kosova and Macedonia.)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Is it the Albanian’s fault that he lives under this sky,
\nUnder this sky, in the land of his ancestors?
\nIs it his fault that he exists and will not be uprooted,
\nThe Albanian, slave or master, who wants to belong to himself?<\/p>\n

Is it the Albanian’s fault that his eyes flash fire
\nWhen he glares as others expel him from his home and his soil?
\nIs it his fault that he exists when others wish him dead,
\nOr that he will spill blood to defend his hearth and not give up alive?<\/p>\n

Is it the Albanian’s fault that he wishes to live as others do,
\nLike a human being, among his own people, now and forever?
\nIs it his fault that, despite force, he resists
\nUnder the precious sky of Kosova, the land of his ancestors?<\/p>\n

[A asht fajtor shqiptari<\/em>, from the volume Brigjet<\/em>, Prishtina: Rilindja 1981, p. 44. First published in English in An Elusive Eagle Soars, Anthology of Modern Albanian Poetry<\/em>, London: Forest Books 1993, p. 30. Translated from the Albanian by Robert Elsie]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Evening<\/strong><\/p>\n

Like the golden fringes of an azure shawl
\nHeld in two white hands, two snow-laden hills,
\nThe sunset flames… Overhead the clouds
\nCross the sky and melt into space.<\/p>\n

As the last rays fade over the slopes,
\nThe veil spreads to cover the ash-grey plains,
\nThe mountains now fall silent, frozen and
\nLifeless… all things have grown sombre and vanish.<\/p>\n

Night has fallen and, in the air, cries can be heard,
\nThe trees by the roadside tremble in the wind…
\nYet in some distant land is the white light of dawn<\/p>\n

Whetting its golden arrows to overwhelm the night.
\nDarkness reigns o’er the world. In the valley, the villages,
\nStretched out in the wee hours, are sound asleep.<\/p>\n

(1933)<\/p>\n

[Mbramja<\/em>, from the volume Brigjet<\/em>, Prishtina: Rilindja 1981, p. 11. Translated from the Albanian by Robert Elsie]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Death of Day<\/strong><\/p>\n

The setting sun
\nSpent itself
\nIn a flickering fire…<\/p>\n

All things quivered
\nIn sadness
\nAnd lamentation.<\/p>\n

In that silent coffin of twilight,
\nIn orphaned pain
\nTonight<\/p>\n

We mourned
\nWhat we loved, what was ours,
\nWith pristine tears.<\/p>\n

The sighing of the blades of grass,
\nThe quiet sobbing of the wind
\nMet my heart in sorrow…<\/p>\n

The sun tonight
\nSpent itself
\nIn a flickering fire.<\/p>\n

(1934)<\/p>\n

[Ndekja e dit\u00ebs<\/em>, from the volume Brigjet<\/em>, Prishtina: Rilindja 1981, p. 17. Translated from the Albanian by Robert Elsie]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I<\/strong><\/p>\n

I know no joy: worry seethes in my heart,
\nI am alone – no brother or sister,
\nA broken child on the misty horizon
\nWhere lightning flashes and flings one into the depths.<\/p>\n

I am the pain of the poor, bereft of food and drink,
\nA mother’s tear fallen on an empty table,
\nI am the longing of the slave, forever pursued,
\nWho rises like a giant in the air amongst the birch trees.<\/p>\n

I am the suffering of the oppressed, muffled in misery,
\nA war cry resounding, scattering all impediments,
\nIn that great expectation splendidly arising
\nOver the ruins, I am a ray of hope.<\/p>\n

No, I know no joy, worry seethes in my heart,
\nI am alone – no brother or sister,
\nA broken child on the misty horizon
\nWhere lightning flashes and flings one into the depths.<\/p>\n

(1935)<\/p>\n

[Un\u00eb<\/em>, from the volume Brigjet<\/em>, Prishtina: Rilindja 1981, p. 28. Translated from the Albanian by Robert Elsie]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hope<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Two fishermen, covered in a piece of torn canvas and rocked
\nby the waves, are asleep in their tiny boat called \u00dcm\u00fct (Hope),
\nthe letters of which can hardly be read.)<\/em><\/p>\n

All night long did the foaming waves beat them,
\nThe beacon its signal did cast,
\nYet they, caught in reverie visions,
\nHad drifted and fallen asleep,<\/p>\n

Outstretched,
\nA brief respite
\nIn their struggle for a better life,
\nFor that which they longed to lead.<\/p>\n

… then the dawn cast its white rays,
\nThe sun outshone the lighthouse,
\nWide-eyed gulls perched on the reefs.<\/p>\n

Alone were the two of them, waiting
\nIn their Hope, rocked in their reverie,
\nAnd in their endless dreams.<\/p>\n

[Shpresa<\/em>, from the volume Brigjet<\/em>, Prishtina: Rilindja 1981, p. 136. Translated from the Albanian by Robert Elsie]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The writer widely considered to be the father of modern Albanian poetry in Yugoslavia, Esad Mekuli (1916-1993), was not born in Kosova itself but in the mountain village of Plava on the Montenegrin-Albanian border where national traditions are still revered. Mekuli went to school in Peja on the Kosova side of the wild Rugova canyon […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[66],"class_list":["post-888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-albanian-authors","tag-classical-authors-19th-early-20th-centuries"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.shqipopedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.shqipopedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.shqipopedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.shqipopedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.shqipopedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=888"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/en.shqipopedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":889,"href":"https:\/\/en.shqipopedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888\/revisions\/889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.shqipopedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.shqipopedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.shqipopedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}