Natasha Lako

A clear night has fallen with its soft, supple body
Upon the great city.
The lofty trees converse with the moon
And flowers bend and doze.
The streets descend into an asphalt slumber
And dream of tomorrow's footsteps,
From the lampposts incandescent light shines down
Upon the fallen leaves and traces of passers-by.
But the calm is not real,
I know people are not dormant -
Young mothers are raising children in their wombs,
Even in their deepest sleep.

[Pagjumësi, from the volume E para fjala e botës, Tirana: Naim Frashëri 1979, p. 49, translated from the Albanian by Robert Elsie, and first published in English in An elusive eagle soars, anthology of modern Albanian poetry, London: Forest Books 1993, p. 154]