LOVE IN WAR TIME By Jeton Kelmendi

Jeton Kelmendi  poem edited by George Wallace

LOVE IN WAR TIME

Sometimes I want them to happen
These things
Differently
For example, a heavy fog fell on me,
And a border was easily
Crossed —
To pass there first of all
Where a few months ago
I saw a girl
With curly hair,
Only saw her —
And to dream later on, while
Falling in love.

At the end
It is war and we don’t
know the future
Every day fighting with death
These stories that
Someone or whomever
Fell for freedom,
Or other news,
Such as the enemy
Was destroyed,
These are daily routines.
Perhaps
To share with someone

That he desires love
During war time,
Someone will think you are stupid
But even in the fiercest fights
A soldier will never stop thinking about love
I have seen it in myself.

In time of war
God knows
How the end will come,
Perhaps
No time has space for love —
Time tolls,
But what if everyone planted
Death
Who would harvest
Love?

A poet thinks
that the greatest loves
Are born in war time.
Perhaps,
Perhaps — exceeding the imagination
Of a bible story,
Or
Even the most illustrated stories
Of Lorca and Hemingway.
Simply
Love is another war,

It’s an infinite war
Even the longest war
Longer than any other.
But weapons are
Something else:
Heart, Soul and Sex.

I came for myself
And went
Right to the center of stage.
There is war.
Are you looking at it, day by day
Life is becoming even more boring:
This is how it started
My mind confused me,
And with happiness we were ready
For a little more love.

Is this a dream or anti-dream;
Not sure
If someone will ask,
Today —
But, surprisingly,
It happened.
99 times, I have been able to die
All 99.
Without war,
How can love begin ?

It cannot be imagined.
There is love, and war.

Late night
The moon has forgotten
To come outside,
A soldier returns, departs
For other front lines;
When there is love during war time
War continues…
This is a soldier of a soldier.
November 1999, sometime in the War of Kosovo.

Born in the city of Peja, Kosovo Jeton Kelmendi is a poet, player, publicist, translator, publisher, university professor, academic, and active member of the European Academy of Science and Arts in Salzburg Austria.