In these moving poems by Irma Kurti: Without a Homeland, These Are Not Leaves, It’s a Sin to Close My Eyes, and White Dove, a woman stands on a bright but lonely afternoon by the sea, searching not for shells but for the scattered pieces of a lost past. The waves carry back images of her homeland, now out of reach, while she struggles to build a fragile life in a foreign place where even love’s old door has been replaced by something unfamiliar. She has changed too, becoming a sky full of clouds, unable to fully know herself anymore. Carrying a heavy suitcase filled with memories, she wipes away tears clearer than rain, saying silent goodbyes as she walks forward. Thoughts of her father’s pain still around and she wishes to lift his burden like setting a white dove free. Surrounded by sunlight and soft breezes, she wonders how she can leave on such a beautiful day, yet the ache of exile remains. Through these poems, Irma Kurti shares a journey of longing, farewell, and the endless search for peace when no homeland is left to call home.
Without a homeland
What are you looking for on the shore,
shreds of memories or broken shells?
Seagulls to distant lands have flown,
abandoning thus their only love nest.
Just like you, who in a foreign land
tried to build with difficulty a roof.
Although from there, the cold, the rain,
nostalgia, and memories penetrate, too.
Nothing has remained, even that door
you opened in the dream of first love.
It was rusty, now it has been replaced
with a more beautiful and modern one.
You’ve changed also, you’re a sky full
of clouds, hard to recognize yourself—
a sensitive soul, very often deluded;
a sad poetess, left without a homeland.
Taken from “Without a homeland”, Transcendent Zero Press, USA, 2019.
These are not leaves
These are not leaves that the autumn
throws on my hair, my shoulders;
they are hands greeting me today
while I drag an old and heavy suitcase
that keeps the seasons we lived together.
These are not raindrops running down
my cheeks, but tears: so limpid and clear.
These are not puddles reflecting now my
face but rivers of thoughts and reflections.
Goodbyes always hurt; they leave you
bitter in the heart, even if, somewhere
out there, a world of magic colours waits…
It’s a sin to close my eyes
It’s a sin to close my eyes this very day
when lots of kisses the sun sends my way,
from the window the breeze caresses me
like an invisible and distant hand of love.
No weeping saddens the limpid air,
no clouds tear up the endless blue of sky;
my complaint does not resemble a sob
but a musical and melancholic sound.
Bad weather with rains and lightning
I’d prefer to accompany my departure.
It’s a sin to fade away on a day like this:
life smiles and revives in each particle.
White dove
Tell me, do you feel pain, dear Dad,
on the narrow path, on the way that
leads you to nothing? I beg you, give
it to me! I will shelter your pain in my
chest, liberate you so that your soul
will be free; it will fly away in the air
somewhere, like a lovely white dove.
Published by Synchronized Chaos, 2023.
IRMA KURTI is an Albanian poet, writer, lyricist, journalist, and translator and has been writing since she was a child. She is a naturalized Italian and lives in Bergamo, Italy. All her books are dedicated to the memory of her beloved parents, Hasan Kurti and Sherife Mezini, who have supported and encouraged every step of her literary path.
Kurti has won numerous literary prizes and awards in Albania, Italy, Switzerland, USA, Philippines, Lebanon and China. She was awarded the Universum Donna International Prize IX Edition 2013 for Literature and received a lifetime nomination as an Ambassador of Peace by the University of Peace, Italian Switzerland.
In 2020, she became the honorary president of WikiPoesia, the encyclopedia of poetry. In 2023 she was awarded a Career Award from the Universum Academy Switzerland. She also won the prestigious 2023 Naji Naaman’s literary prize for complete work.
Irma Kurti is a member of the jury for several literary competitions in Italy. She is also a translator for the Ithaca Foundation in Spain.
Irma Kurti has published more than 100 works, including books of poetry, fiction and translations. She is one of the most translated and published Albanian poets. Her books have been translated and published in 19 countries.
