Olimbi VELAJ (1971) was born in Mallakastra, Albania. She studied in Tirana and Sofia. Velaj is author of the lyric volumes Çastet vdesin nën akrepa orësh (Moments perish under the hands of clocks), Tirana, 1998; and Qenia pasdite (Afternoon existence), bilingual volume (Albanian-English, Tirana, 2003. Velaj is reprezentative poet in several magazines in Albanian language. Her poetry is published in 15 languages, in Balkan countries, in Europe, USA and Azia in some of literature magazines and anthology. She has been partecipant in a number of poetry festivals and she has nominations and awards for her poetry. Velaj translates into Albanian contemporary poets.
She works as a lecturer in Albanian Literature of XX century, Creative Writing and World Literature of the Nineteenth Century; she is Head of Literature Department, Faculty of Education “Aleksandër Moisiu” University, Durrës, Albania. Also she is teaching Albanian Language, Literature and Culture in University of Belgrade, Department of Albanology.
Velaj has worked as a journalist in cultural issues from 1993 till 2008 and she was one of representative journalist during transition, after communist regime in Albania. As a journalist she has published widely in cultural heritage and folklore. During 1997-1998 she had a research fellowship in Sofia University, focused on comparative studies on Ballads of the Balkans. Her PhD topic (2012) was “The Albanian ballad in the inter-Balkan context”. Her research interests are in areas of oral based literature and poetry, ballad theory and folk songs.
THE TIME OF BELLS
We hope yet
Here comes the time of bells
With the dead sighing
Under black suits
And dry flowers
Air tightens under the silent weight
Of anxiety in the church yard
Surrounded with smelling paraffin
Angels wandering on the walls
According to faith and desire
Time takes another shape
Under tired faces of saints
And rumbling psalms
I would like to die
In one of these days
Without my atheism
Or the distant erotic
Reaching the sky
Before prayers and candles
OLD TIMES
You too remember
Those old times
With naïve calls and postcards
Summer, like an apocalypse, had flown away
Over our bodies and dreams
Waiting, overwhelmed with anxiety
As embassies creaked under screams
I cannot forget your conviction
And the pure light
Under that sky of departure hours…
Then rains came back
Our longing grew distant
And anxiety kept fading
Like an ice cube with melted corners
Senses experienced other moods
And impressions became vague
Like thirst going out of attention
Now I remember you quite accidentally,
Unconsciously, as if you were a participant
In a ritual anniversary where reason cannot work
THE WOMAN
This woman fearing fading
Like a beacon in a remote station
Makes me freeze
In her walk, insecurity is the rhythm
And lost direction, she is a sailor
Trusting no more in his own return
Maybe an ordinary story
Ends with her shadow:
A silent childhood spent on schoolbooks
And shop queues
Scarce toys, economic love…
Then a long time of misunderstanding
An empty life of self-exclusion
Here she is now standing
Face to face with vanity
She has no reason to make haste
So she is all ears as air feeds her
On the regular striking of bells
Announcing the end of time
Hour after hour
English translation by Ukë Zenel Buçpapaj
