The Investigation - Din Mehmeti

In an ugly investigation
Our names were unveiled, pierced
By seven rusty nails.

Our slaughtered names,
Skeletons slung in a savage museum.

An investigation - a skull,
And others to boot - a pile of bones.

And life goes its blithe way
As do blind shadows o'er a dead landscape,
Trembling existence.

One of us went mad in the smoke,
For he did not know himself one hundred years ago,
For death did not want him, neither then nor now,
No ceremonial keening...

An investigation - a skull,
And others to boot - a pile of bones,
Life trapped in the trenches of hell.
(1969)

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Din Mehmeti (1932 - 2010) Kosovo (Albania at the time of his birth)
Translated by Robert Elsie
Source: Robert Elsie: Albanian Literature