Albanian Literature in Translation

Robert Elsie

Early Authors

Page from Matrënga's "Christine Doctrine", 1592.

Lekë MATRËNGA   Spiritual song I call you all who wish indulgence, All good Christians, men and women, Go to mass, the Lord commands it, For no man is sinless 'mongst us; Blithe is he who ponders God And remembers he is mortal, Christ will welcome him to heaven With his children and his brethren. [Cghíthaeue u thaerés..., from the volume Embsuame e chraesterae, 1592. Translated from the Albanian by Robert Elsie and first published in English in History of Albanian literature, New York 1995, vol. 1, p. 56]

Early Authors