I Am

I Am

I am the sheep in mountain grass and the eagles in the wind.

I am death and life in Tirana's buzzing streets.

The screaming mouths and silent bones of Kosova - that's me.

Despair and hope in hundreds of eyes on drowning hunger ships - that's me.

I am the rainbow in the poisoned petrol lakes of Ballsh.

I am the dead fish in the canalized and polluted Lana.

The unreal turquoise streaming of beautiful Vjosa - that's me, too,

And the glittering, caressing waves of Saranda's smiling and forgetting beach - that's me.

I am a million Albanian wombs colonized by war and patriarchy,

But I am, too, the power of Teuta, Shota Galica, Ajnishahe Shala and my friend Mrika from Allias.

One day my body will be rotting into my beloved Albanian earth,

Yet from my chest will rise my soul with golden eagles' wings

To melt eternally into the Golden Sun.