Rudolf Marku

In every production on earth, from earliest times on,
In Aeschylus, Shakespeare, in films and on stage,
Appear midst the deafening action, the silent ones,
The extras.
They have no names, have no real characters,
But are dignified as they walk across the stage,
They are not for Hamlet, but of course
Are not for the usurper king either.
No one knows their names
Or what they ever thought, the extras,
But after the play, for their silence,
They always take care to go and pick up their cheques.

Translated from the Albanian by Robert Elsie