Centre for Romanian Studies

Poetry in Translation (CCXII): Romeo ÇOLLAKU, (b. 1973, Greece) Albanian poet, “The Piggy Bank of Time”, “Puşculiţa Timpului”

The Piggy Bank of Time
Romeo Çollaku (b. 1973)
Albanian poet born in Greece

As twilight descends, casting black ink upon the village, and the dog’s eyes in the courtyard are like two spent oil lamps, you at the windowsill show not your elbows, nor do you bestow a glance on the plum trees or on the fences in the lane.

“On the Night of St. Demetrius, there is time enough for sleep and thought,” chides one of those voices which hardly whispers, and you sit there dazed for hours on end.

And, when you finally get up, you accidentally shatter a porcelain vase (a custom of old, and there is nothing you can do).

Light the lamp and study the grey coins of your childhood scattered upon the floor.

[Kumbaraja e kohës, from the volume Kumbaraja e kohës, Tirana: Ombra GVG 2004, p.7]
(From: Transcript 24 – Cotemporary Verse from Albania)

Puşculita Timpului
Romeo Çollaku (n. 1973)
Poet Albanez, născut in Grecia

În amurg, când cenuşa serii se revarsă peste sat, iar ochii câinelui păzitor apar ca doua fitiluri de lampă, pâlpâind, tu stai la fereastră, ascunzându-ţi coatele, fără să arunci vre-o privire prunilor, sau gardului de pe uliţă.

În noaptea de Sân Dumitru, vei avea destul timp să dormi şi să visezi, mă aţâţă in şoaptă glasul abea perceptibil, dar tu stai acolo, ore in şir, năucită.

Iar când, intr-un tarziu, te ridici, spargi din greşeală puşculiţa de lut (un obicei din strămoşi care nu-l poţi evita)

Atunci aprinzi lampa ca să numeri banii vechi ai copilăriei imprăştiaţi pe podea.

Versiune în limba Română
Constantin ROMAN, Londra,
© 2013, Copyright Constantin ROMAN

SHORT BIO:
Romeo Çollaku was born in the southern port town of Saranda, across from the island of Corfu in neighbouring Greece. He studied Albanian language and literature at the University of Gjirokastra and now lives in Athens, Greece.

Çollaku is an author of Albanian verse of high linguistic finesse, which has appeared in three collections: Zemër virgjine (Virgin Heart), Tirana 1993; Gjithë diell e natë (All Sun and Night), Tirana 2003; and Kumbaraja e kohes (The Piggy Bank of Time), Tirana 2004. He has also published the novel Varrezat e vendlindjes (Hometown Cemetery), Tirana 2002, and Albanian translations of the poets Yannis Ritsos, Jorgos Seferis, Paul Verlaine and Stephane Mallarmé.