i
Çimi je vsak dan jedel mravlje:
prijel jih je z dvema prstoma,
jih najprej pogledal, potem pa si jih, strmeč v prazno,
brez misli dal v usta.
Vedno je izbiral tiste črne, ki so se premikale počasi,
morda zato, ker so bile tihe in počasne
kot on. Prejšnji teden se je njegova pobegla mama
vrnila in ga peljala ven na večerjo.
Molče sta sedela za mizo,
in ko je končno rekla Pogrešala sem te!,
je iz Çimijevih ust prilezlo črno morje mravelj
in zadušilo praznino med njima.
ii
Ob deževnih dneh smo hodile k Xhildi:
jaz, Elona, Jonida, Fiori. Xhilda je imela balkon.
Šle smo tja in se pogovarjale s fanti.
Xhilda je živela v prvem nadstropju.
Tako da smo se lahko s fanti dotikale z rokami.
Le da je imel balkon železno ograjo, saj se
mora človek zavarovati pred tatovi.
Tako da smo se lahko s fanti dotikale z rokami,
medtem ko se je ograja dotikala naših rok.
iii
Star je moral biti devet let,
ko je potunkal mačko v bencin, jo zažgal
in gledal, kako je tekla v krogih.
Nori mačji ples, je pravil temu,
pridite gledat nori mačji ples, nam je rekel,
a smo pobegnili in ga pustili samega
opazovati mačko, kako se je vrtela, in poslušati
krike iz njenega trebuha. Zatem jo je zagrebel
in jokal ves čas, ko je kopal.
iv
Igrali smo se pozabljene igre, s kredami risali genitalije
po cesti, nihče se ni v šoli naučil ničesar,
nihče se ni nikoli odselil, dokler se ni priselila gospodična Luli,
ki je prišla učit zgodovino v rdečih petkah, s konjskim repom in očali,
z dlanmi kot orhidejami, in smo po Sovji aveniji zdivjali
kupit učbenike k Pandiju. Oboževali smo
njena drobna usta, ko je govorila o katedralah
in nekem Jacku Razparaču, in ko je deževalo,
smo gledali, kakšno pozornost posveča vsaki kaplji,
dokler ni pozabila govoriti. Vsi smo se nehali igrati
zunaj, vsi smo začeli dobivati petice, razen Çimija,
ki je nekega jutra prešprical šolo, oblečen v srajco, zatlačeno
pod velikanski trebuh, z vedrom v roki
in nožem, skritim v čevlju. Šel je naravnost
na vrt gospodične Luli in prerezal vratove njenih vrtnic,
nato pa nanje zmetal sardine in pustil sporočilo:
»Da si boste zapomnili, gospodična,
da bomo zgodovina. Skupaj! Vaš Çimi.«
Prevod: Jernej Župančič
i
Çimi ate ants every day:
he picked them up with two fingers,
looked at them first, then staring into space,
thoughtlessly put them into his mouth.
He always chose the black, slow-moving ones,
maybe because they were quiet and slow
like him. Last week, his runaway mother
returned and took Çimi out to dinner.
They were sitting silently at the table,
and when she finally said, I’ve missed you!
a black sea of ants crawled out of Çimi’s mouth,
drowning the space between them.
ii
On rainy days, we'd go to Xhilda's place:
me, Elona, Jonida, Fiori. Xhilda had a balcony.
We'd go out there and talk to the boys.
Xhilda lived on the first floor.
So we could touch hands with the boys.
Except the balcony had iron bars because
you must protect yourselves from thieves.
So we could touch hands with the boys
with bars touching ours.
iii
He must have been nine years old
when he dipped a cat in gasoline, set it on fire
and watched it run around in circles.
The mad cat dance, he called it,
come watch the mad cat dance, he told us,
but we ran away leaving him there alone
to watch the cat spin and hear it cry
from its stomach. He buried it afterwards
sobbing all through the digging.
iv
We played forgotten games, chalked genitals
on the street, nobody learned a thing in school,
nobody ever moved away till Miss Luli moved in
to teach history in red heels, ponytail and glasses,
hands like orchids, and we raced to buy notebooks
at Pandi’s, down Avenue of the Owls. We loved
her little mouth when she spoke of cathedrals
and one Jack the Ripper, and when it rained,
we used to watch her pay attention to each drop
till she’d forget to talk. Everyone stopped going out
to play, everyone started to get 10s, except for Çimi
who skipped class one morning, shirt tucked
under his perfect whale of a belly, bucket in hand,
knife packed in his shoes. He went straight
into Miss Luli's garden and slit her roses’ throats
then threw sardines all over them and left a note:
“So that you remember, Miss,
so that we’re history. Together! Love, Çimi.”
