My Room in London

the traditional english-style window and the mirrors around it increase the illusion of space you watch me from the street and from the surrounding apartments i cannot lock anything with the key that binds me to you the thames takes it all and casts it down by the two flanks of my naked body surrounded by mirrors that increase the illusion of infinite space in my bedroom i cannot lock this cubic world with the key that separates me from you the thames takes my little belongings and i cannot find them in the shadows suffocating me as they parade in the mirrors that extend the size of my bedroom the traditional english-style window and the confusing key in the open door fracture the light into a multitude of views of my limbs hanging in the mirrors that turn to ruins my world hidden from public view and the masses

(London, 1993)

[Dhoma ime në Londër, from the volume Frutat bizare, Prishtina: Rilindja 1996, p. 12. Translated from the Albanian by Robert Elsie]