by Gjonbala Kelmeni
Summary
In “Vajtimi i Ajkunes,” a grieving mother, Ajkuna, learns that Gjeto Basho Muji has buried her son. Heartbroken, she goes alone to the Yellow Meadows. There, at her son Omer’s grave beneath an ancient beech tree, she pours out a heart-wrenching lament. She curses the moon for not warning her, begs her son to rise from the dark grave, and calls him to come out and play, refresh himself at the springs, and roam the mountains with the zanas as before. Her tears fall on the grave while the mountain birds fall silent, moved by her sorrow. A powerful mother’s lament of loss and longing.
Ajkuna’s Lament (Vajtimi)
The light has risen, yet it gives no light,
the sun has come up, yet it gives no warmth.
What has Gjeto Basho Muji done?
He has put her son into the ground…
Muji returned home.
The boy’s mother asked him:
“Mujo, where did you leave my son?
Did he remain in the Yellow Meadows?”
She took the road alone.
The stars stopped to hear her weeping.
When she reached the Yellow Meadows,
the mother cursed the moon:
“May your light be extinguished, O moon,
for you did not bring me a single word that night,
that I might quickly go to the Yellow Meadows
and enter the grave together with my son!”
When she reached her son’s grave,
she saw a three-hundred-year-old beech tree.
The beech was trembling.
She placed the most beautiful branch upon the grave.
Leaning against the beech’s branches,
her tears dripped onto her son’s grave.
The birds of the mountain fell silent,
they stopped singing to listen.
“Don’t you know who has come,
that you do not rise to greet me,
O dearest son of your mother?
Amanet, O my son,
come out for a moment from this dark prison,
speak to the mother who raised you.
You have never made me wait this long!
Omer, my dear son,
shall I bring your horse?
Come out for a while to play,
go to the springs to refresh yourself,
roam the peaks with the zanas (mountain fairies).
Your mother guards your grave,
O dearest son of your mother!”
Context
This is a deeply emotional Albanian lament (vajtimi) of a mother mourning her son, believed to have been killed or lost in battle, with Muji involved in the events. It is poetic and full of traditional imagery.
