Bloodstain

To recline
In a room of white
On cushions of white
They enter,
The natives in their skullcaps of white,
And sit,
Wiping their brows with kerchiefs of white,
And drink
Coffee from scalding cups of white,
They greet
The bride all dressed in white
And wish her offspring
On frosty days of white,
Then to the feast
They rise
And slay sheep of white.

[Njollë gjaku, from the volume Ndodhi në shpirt, Elbasan: Onufri 1995, p. 49,
translated from the Albanian by Robert Elsie]