TI

Poems by: Erich Fried
Translated by: Faslli Haliti

Where there is no freedom
you are freedom
where there is no dignity
you are dignity
where there is no warmth
and closeness between human beings
you are closeness and warmth
the heart of the insensible world

Your lips and your tongue
are questions and answers
between your arms and in your lap
there is something resembling peace
your every forced departure
really wants to go back
you are the beginning of the future
the heart of an unfeeling world.

You are not a concept of religion
and no philosophy
of no rule or property
after which to cling
and you can be wrong and doubt
and let it go
the heart of the insensible world.

Who is nostalgic for you?
how much do i have

Who caresses you
when my hand asks for you?

Is it me or are they?
the bones of my youth?

Is it me or is it the beginnings
of my old age?

It is my courage to live
or my fear of death?

But why my nostalgia
it should tell you something

And what does my experience give you?
that only made me sad?

And what my poems give you
in which I only say
how difficult it has become
to be or to give?

It shines in the garden though
the sun in the wind before the rain
and ermon the dying grass
and privet
and i look at you
and my searching hand seeks you.