De Albanese dichter en schrijver Bilal Xhaferri werd geboren op 2 november 1935 in Ninat bij KonispolZie ook alle tags voor Bilal Xhaferri op dit blog en ook mijn blog van 2 november 2010
Janina in the Fall
Watery vale – the lake of Janina
Slouches in the morning mist,
Curved like tumuli, gull wings skit o’er the islet,
The wind bedecks the lanes and alleys with broad leaves,
Exotic mosques, neglected daughters of the Orient,
Pose sadly before Western tourists.
Come from beyond barb-wired border, the sons of Pyrrhos
Pace the port, heads bowed, under the lofty planes.
Autumn as bare as mini-skirted maidens
Rubs against the bearded, mossy walls,
There, where Frosina once fled from Ali Pasha
And plunged into the lake’s frigid waters.
Janina, too, timeworn and abandoned,
Sinks slowly into the lake
In its former, now forgotten glory,
To the muffled beat of war drums.
It subsides, as will new Joannina with its neon lights,
Under streams of cars careening down the asphalt streets,
Under its fresh hotels, the Xenia, Paladion,
To the ringing of bells and the chanting of psalms.
Watery vale – the lake of Janina,
Sways softly in the morning haze.
Come from beyond barb-wired border, the sons of Pyrrhos
Pace, heads bowed, in the plane-treed alleys,
Pensive their thoughts, seething their sorrow.
Vertaald door Robert Elsie
Bilal Xhaferri (2 november 1935 – 14 oktober 1986)
Detail van een momument
Lees verder “Bilal Xhaferri, Augusta Peaux, Jules Barbey d’Aurevilly, Leo Perutz, Daniil Andreyev”
