Draw a line! —a strikethrough poem by Irsa Ruçi

Days striped in purpose, only numbers on the calendar  

Sighing shackles dragged down, why ideals suffer so much?

Survival is an anemic moment, reflex in foolishness  

Waked in mental delirium…

Nations cannot doze too much

They may forget the waking, what if they forget oblivion?

And a step away are we humans  

Us that the headache heel with painkillers

And stomach with alcohol…     

In morning we wake up with the weight of guilt in our shoulders

Because we spend the evenings playing domino

In the corners of time.

Then we turn to the cup of coffee to read destiny

To find the recipe of an already arranged life   

While eating popcorn carelessly.

Frozen numbers on calendar strip the days from purposes

A little aside the ashes of smoke on the broken strings of a guitar.

___

Irsa Ruçi is an Albanian Speechwriter and Lecturer who has received numerous awards, and whose books include Trokas mbi ajër (poems and essays), 2008 and Pështjellim (poetry), 2010.