MAXHUN OSMANAJ was born on April 25, 1958 in the village of Prekalle in Istog-Kosovo. He
finished elementary school in Zallq, high school in Istog, and university in the branch of Albanian
Literature and Language in Prishtina. For forty years he has worked as a journalist and writer in
Kosovo, Albania and Macedonia. He writes poetry for children and adults, fiction, poetry and
literary criticism. He is a member of the League of Writers of Kosovo, a member of the Association
of Writers for Children “Agim Deva,” a member of the editorial board of the school magazine
“Morning Bird,” Prishtina. He has received various awards and honors. His poems are part of many
anthologies in Kosovo and Albania. He lives and works in Istog.

Painting By Elham Hamedi

KNOCKING…

For ages, I’ve knocked at time’s door
She leaves it open for me, without a doubt.
In the room where thoughts collide,
I have much to sift and sort.
I am no lost traveler,
Tossed by cruel hands of fate,
Nor a wretched beggar…
Not even a cunning thief,
While time itself today
Stumbles in questions and dilemmas
Whom to open her heart to,
When minds, moldy with ego,
Strike her mercilessly.
Those who never found their time
But drowned it,
In spiderwebs or in the abyss.
You, Time, know it well…
If you open your door to me,
Know my knocking till now
Has always been human.

TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH BY IRENA DRAGOTI
PRESENTED BY IRMA KURTI