And we who wanted to make
the final ceremony of our Master
majestic but just then
a rain squall started up
decimating our ranks as we
disciples jumped over tilted tombs,
recoiling towards cars, dusting off
mud-covered trouser cuffs -
sticky with the servile dead
scraping our soles on tomb-
stones to wipe off the droppings
of sheep set free to graze on grass
rich in the nutrients of rotting arse
while an improvised hodja
was on the trail of mystic rites.
We never did learn how
the gravediggers lowered the coffin
so dense were the ropes of rain
but they say summer rain is like
a running donkey and so we forgot
the whole thing already slipping into
our contemporary pyjamas.
Arben Dedja was born in Tirana, in Albania, in 1964. He took a degree in Medicine and Surgery in the city of his birth, (1988), going on to specialize in General Surgery (1994). From 1995-1999 he worked as a surgeon in the University Hospital of Tirana. Since 1999 he has lived in Italy, where he works as a research fellow at University of Padua. Along with his scientific articles, Dedja is also a prolific writer of literary works, including poetry both in his native tongue and in Italian, as well as a translator from Italian and English. He has so far published two volumes of poetry and two of translations: Umberto Saba, 30 poezi [30 poems] (MCM, Tiranė 1997); Miroslav Holub, Harbimi [Fury] (Afėrdita, Tiranė 2000). In addition, he was among the translators of the anthology Poezia italiane e shekullit XX [Italian XX century poetry] (Elena Gjika, Tiranė 2000). In 2004 he tied for first place in the «Premio internazionale di poesia e traduzione Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Ascoli Piceno» [International prize for poetry and translation of the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio of Ascoli Piceno] for his translation into Albanian of the selected poems of Attilio Bertolucci. His latest poetry collection is entitled I thopėrkuom [Paralytic] (Korbi, Tiranė 2003). He first appeared as a translator (of Guido Cavalcanti) and as a poet in the journal of comparative poetry «Semicerchio» The original poems published here (and translated into Italian by the author) are taken from the unpublished collection Vetėportete [Self-Portraits].