"What I Will"
"Cfare do te bej"
I will not dance to your war drum. I will not lend my soul nor my bones to your war drum. I will not dance to that beating. I know that beat. It is lifeless. I know intimately that skin you are hitting. It was alive once, hunted, stolen, stretched. I will not dance to your drummed-up war. I will not pop, spin, break for you. I will not hate for you or even hate you. I will not kill for you. Especially I will not die for you. I will not mourn the dead with murder nor suicide. I will not side with you or dance to bombs because everyone is dancing. Everyone can be wrong. Life is a right, not collateral or casual. I will not forget where I come from. I will craft my own drum. Gather my beloved near, and our chanting will be dancing. Our humming will be drumming. I will not be played. I will not lend my name nor my rhythm to your beat. I will dance and resist and dance and persist and dance. This heartbeat is louder than death. Your war drum ain't louder than this breath. Haaa.
Nuk do te kercej pas daulleve tuaja te luftes Nuk do t'ia fal shpirt e as kockat daulleve tuaja te luftes. Nuk do te kercej nen ate ritem. E njoh ate ritem. Eshte i pajete. E njoh shume mire lekuren qe ju po qelloni. Dikur ishte e gjalle, e kerkuar, e vjedhur, e zgjatur. Nuk do te kercej pas luftes suaj nen ritem daullesh. Nuk do te hidhem, rrotullohem, thyhem per ju. Nuk do te urrej per hatrin tuaj e as nuk do t'ju urrej ju. Nuk do te vras per hatrin tuaj. E vecanerisht nuk do te vdes per ju. Nuk do te mbaj zi per te vdekurit duke vrare, apo u vetevrare. Nuk do te mbaj anen tuaj e as do te kercej pas bombave thjesht sepse te gjithe kercejne. Cdokush mund te gaboje. Jeta eshte e drejte, nuk vjen si pasoje e as rastesisht. Nuk do te harroj nga vij. Do te ndertoj daullen time. Do te marr afer te dashurit, dhe himni yne do te jete kercimi. Gumezhima jone do te jete renia e daulles. Nuk do te lejoj te luani me mua. Nuk do t'ia fal emrin e as ritmin tim rrahjeve tuaja. Do te kercej e do te rezistoj, do te duroj e do te kercej. Kjo rrahje zemre eshte me e zhurmshme se vdekja. Daullet tuaja te luftes nuk gjemojne me shume se kjo frymemarrje. Haaa
What's up TED people? Let me hear you make some noise.
C'kemi njerez te TED-it? Dua t'ju degjoj te beni zhurme.
(Applause)
(duartrokitje)
A bunch of pacifists. Confused, aspiring pacifists. I understand.
Nje dore pacifistesh. Pacifiste te konfuzuar, ambicioze. E kuptoj.
I've been wrong a lot lately. Like a lot. So I couldn't figure out what to read today. I mean, I've been saying I've been prepping. What that means is prepping my outfit, (Laughter) prepping options, trying to figure out what I'm coming behind and going in front of. Poetry does that. It preps you. It aims you.
Se fundmi kam gabuar shpesh. Shume shpesh. Keshtu nuk gjeja dot c'te lexoja sot. Thashe qe isha pergatitur. Doja te thoja qe kisha pergatitur veshjen, (te qeshura) kisha pergatitur alternativat, duke dashur te kuptoj se pas kujt do te flisja dhe kush do vinte pas. Poezia e ben kete. Te pergatit. Te jep nje qellim.
So I am going to read a poem that was chosen just now. But I'm going to need you to just sit for like 10 minutes and hold a woman who is not here. Hold her now with you. You don't need to say her name out loud, you can just hold her. Are you holding her?
Keshtu do te lexoj tani nje poezi qe e zgjodha vec tani. Por dua qe juve te rrini ulur per rreth 10 minuta me nje grua qe nuk ndodhet ketu. Mbajeni ate afer vetes. Nuk eshte e nevojshme t'ia thoni emrin me ze te larte, mjafton t'a mbani afer. Eshte me ju?
This is "Break Clustered."
Kjo eshte "Thyerje te grupuara".
All holy history banned. Unwritten books predicted the future, projected the past. But my head unwraps around what appears limitless, man's creative violence. Whose son shall it be? Which male child will perish a new day? Our boys' deaths galvanize. We cherish corpses. We mourn women, complicated. Bitches get beat daily. Profits made, prophets ignored. War and tooth, enameled salted lemon childhoods. All colors run, none of us solid. Don't look for shadow behind me. I carry it within. I live cycles of light and darkness. Rhythm is half silence. I see now, I never was one and not the other. Sickness, health, tender violence. I think now I never was pure. Before form I was storm, blind, ign'ant -- still am. Human contracted itself blind, malignant. I never was pure. Girl spoiled before ripened. Language can't math me. I experience exponentially. Everything is everything. One woman loses 15, maybe 20, members of her family. One woman loses six. One woman loses her head. One woman searches rubble. One woman feeds on trash. One woman shoots her face. One woman shoots her husband. One woman straps herself. One woman gives birth to a baby. One woman gives birth to borders. One woman no longer believes love will ever find her. One woman never did. Where do refugee hearts go? Broken, dissed, placed where they're not from, don't want to be missed. Faced with absence. We mourn each one or we mean nothing at all. My spine curves spiral. Precipice running to and running from human beings. Cluster bombs left behind. De facto landmines. A smoldering grief. Harvest contaminated tobacco. Harvest bombs. Harvest baby teeth. Harvest palms, smoke. Harvest witness, smoke. Resolutions, smoke. Salvation, smoke. Redemption, smoke. Breathe. Do not fear what has blown up. If you must, fear the unexploded.
Ndalohet cdo lloj historie e shenjte. Librat e pashkruar parashikuan te ardhmen, projektuan te shkuaren. Por mendimet e mia shpalosen rreth dickaje qe duket e pafundme, dhunes kreative te njeriut. I biri i kujt do te jete? Foshnja djale e kujt do t'i gezohet nje dite te re? Vdekjet e djemve tane elektrizojne. Ne ushqejme kufoma. Mbajme zi per grate, e nderlikuar. Kurva rrihen cdo dite. Fitimet rriten, profetet injorohen. Lufte dhe dhembe, femijeri te llakosura me kripe e limon. Ngjyrat ndryshojne, asnje prej nesh nuk eshte gur. Mos e kerko hijen pas meje. Une e mbaj ate brenda. Jetoj cikle drite dhe erresire. Ritmi eshte gjysme heshtjeje. Tani e kuptoj, nuk kam qene asnjehere as njera, e as tjetra. Semundje, shendet, dhune e embel. Tani mendoj se kurre s'kam qene e dlire. Perpara trajtes isha stuhi, e verber, e paditur... ende e tille. Njerezimi i tkurrur, i verber, keqdashes. Nuk kam qene kurre e dlire. Vajze e zhveshur para pjekjes. Gjuha nuk me mat dot. Perjetoj ne menyre eksponenciale. Gjithcka eshte gjithcka. Nje grua humbet 15, apo 20 pjestare te familjes. Nje grua humbet gjashte. Nje grua humbet toruan. Nje grua kerkon ne rrenoja. Nje grua ushqehet me plehra. Nje grua qellon veten ne fytyre. Nje grua qellon burrin. Nje grua var veten. Nje grua lind nje foshnje. Nje grua lind kufij te rinj. Nje grua nuk beson me se dashuria do t'i beje vizite. Nje grua nuk e besoi asnjehere. Ku shkojne zemrat e refugjateve? Te thyera, te fyera, te vendosura larg vendit te tyre, nuk duan te ndjellin mall. Perballe mungeses. Mbajme zi per secilen ose nuk kjo nuk ka kuptim. Shpina perthyhet ne spirale. Rrepire qe shkon drejt dhe larg qenieve njerezore. Bomba te grupuara pas shpines. Mina de facto. Zi qe digjet brenda vetes. Korr duhan te kontaminuar. Korr bomba. Korr dhembe femijesh. Korr palma, tym. Korr deshmitare, tym. Premtime, tym. Shpetim, tym. Falje, tym. Merr fryme. Mos u frikeso nga ajo c'ka shpertheu. Nese duhet, atehere frikesohu nga e pashperthyera.
Thank you.
Faleminderit.
(Applause)
(duartrokitje)