Fatos Arapi’s “Homeland”

“Homeland” by Fatos Arapi (1930–2018), Albanian poet

Homeland is hurt, is hurt,
Like April with a saddened soul,
Homeland is the cross, the cross,
You hold it – and it holds you whole.

Homeland is the promised place,
You tread through it like a God,
Homeland has no words, with eyes so sad,
Love withers in love, isn’t it mad?

Homeland is hungry bread,
It flees and leaves you beat,
It’s a dream, a nightmare, a weary hope,
Where you get lost but find yourself complete.

Homeland is an open grave, a grave,
A new life is born with trust,
A single tear shows how fates are torn,
A single tear shows how liberty is born.

Your homeland is that small place, small place,
The divine, eternal one, full of grace.

Translated by Armend Bekaj

Read the original in Albanian

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