LOVE IN A WAR TIME
By Jeton Kelmendi
Love in a War Time
Sometime I want them to happen
These things
Differently
For example, a heavy fog fell in me,
Until the border is easily
Passed,
To pass there first of all
Where a few months ago
I saw a girl
With curly hair,
Only to see her
And to dream later on while
Falling in love.
At the end
It is war and we don’t
know the future
Every day fighting with death
These stories that
Someone or whomever
Fell for freedom,
Or other news,
Such as the enemy
Was destroyed
These are daily routines.
Perhaps
To share with someone
That he desires love
At a war time,
Someone will think you are stupid
But even in the fiercest fights
A soldier will never stop thinking about love
I have seen it in myself.
Time of war
God knows
How the end will come,
Perhaps
Neither time has space for love,
Time has its toll
But, what if everyone would plant
Death,
Who would be harvesting
Love.
A poet thinks
that the greatest loves
Are born in war times,
Perhaps,
Perhaps, are exceeding the imagination
Of a biblical story,
Or
Even the most illustrated stories
Of Lorka and Hemingway,
Simply
Love is another war,
It’s an infinite war
Even the longest war
Than any other war
But weapons are
Something else:
Heart, Soul and Sex.
I came for myself
And went
Right at the center of stage.
There is war
Are you looking at it, day by day
Life is becoming even more boring:
this is how it started
My mind has confused me,
While
With happiness we were ready
For a little more love.
Is this a dream or anti dream;
Nor today
I am sure if someone
Will ask,
But, surprisingly
It happened
99 times I have been able to die
The 99.
Without war,
How time of love begins
It cannot be imagined,
There is love, and war.
Late night
The moon has forgotten
To come outside,
A soldier is returned, departs
In other front lines;
At a time when there is love at war time
War continues…
This is a soldier of a soldier.
November 1999, sometime in the War of Kosovo.
Under the shade of memory
I told you something forgotten
The things that you will not remember even tomorrow
Forgiveness is always much more ancient
When silence is traveling
At the oak dried from the sun
I am awaiting you
In the same line with the verse
Hung in the abyss of the mountain
There I await only love
And I sat to relax
I tried to
Exhaust the autumn or to dream the light
Only to say a word
June, 2004
One Word Grew In The Earth Of The Tongue
I spoke to my self
The broken strings of the legend
It is good
To keep them in our hands
With good thoughts
Which always stay alone
Relax once in a while near the fireplace
You have never been like today
In a blink of an eye
One word
Grew in the earth of the tongue
And grew until the sky
Laid her roots until the darkest areas
Today is taking care of tomorrow
After
Waters and entire soils
One verse of the poet
Together with his lightening
Farewell said the cold
We will meet
One day between the hills
Brussels, February 27, 2007
I Dream About Her Falling Asleep With Me
As much as you want to
Escape from my winter
You, antisaga that doesn’t understand my spring
In you was growing the curiosity of waiting
Which scared the night
The sleep did a marvelous thing
It dreamed
For her sleep with me
Freely
Let’s say she departed
To be silenced with anxiety
Without the smallest
Worry
Water, took water from her thirst
The events descended on earth
Arrived as they were not conceived
Suddenly
With eyes they brought her towards me
The Days Will Depart One Time
How to say a word to you
My word, soft and so warm
Always towards the good
We should speak beautifully
Why it is important to our age
The opinions that don’t help us
Below the hair, over the eyebrows
Is appearing a love
Under the quietness of the tree shades
I hit the veins of thought
The days will depart at one point
From the beginning
About the Author:
Born in the city of Peja, Kosovo (1978), Jeton Kelmendi completed elementary school in his birth place. Later he continued his studies at the University of Pristina and received the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Mass communication. He completed his graduate studies at the Free University of Brussels, Belgium, specializing in International and Security Studies. He finished his second master degree in diplomacy. Kelmendi did a PhD in the “Influence of media in EU Political Security Issues”. He is a professor at AAB University College. He is active member of the European Academy of Science and Arts in Salzburg Austria. For many years he has written poetry, prose, essays and short stories. He is a regular contributor to many newspapers, in Albania and abroad, writing on many cultural and political topics, especially concerning international affairs. Jeton Kelmendi became well known in Kosova, after the publication of his first book entitled: “The Century of Promises” (“Shekulli i Premtimeve”), published in 1999. Later he published a number of other books. His poems are translated in more that twenty-seven languages and published in several international Literature Anthologies. He is the most translated Albanian Poet and well known in Europe. The wisdom of his work in the field of Literature is based in the attention that he pays to the poetic expression, modern exploration of the text and the depth of the message. His Genre is focused more on love lyrics and elliptical verse intertwined with metaphors and artistic symbolism. Currently resides and works in Brussels, Belgium.