Songs unsung - Migjeni

Deep within me sleep songs unsung,

Which neither suffering nor joy have yet brought forth,

Which sleep on awaiting a happier day

To burst out and be sung without fear or grief.

Deep within me my songs are dormant...

I am a volcano, lying quiescent,

But when the day comes, they will all burst out,

In a thousand immortal colours spout.

But will the day come for my songs to awaken?

Or will the ages continue their derision?

No! no! Because freedom has begun to bloom

And I feel the warmth of the (allegoric) Sun.

Oh, sleeping songs, my personal relics,

Still to any other heart unknown.

Only I, like a child, with you am content,

I - your cradle, and perhaps your tomb.

---

Migjeni [Millosh Gjergj Nikolla] (1911 - 1938) Albania

Translated by Robert Elsie

Source: An Elusive Eagle Soars: Anthology of Modern Albanian Poetry edited and translated with an introduction by Robert Elsie, UNESCO Collection of Representative Works, European Series, Forest Books, 1993