POETRY AS THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE MEMORY OF POWER

2026-07-25 09:49:00, Kulturë Luan Rama

Two windows, a century of history and the metaphysics of power in the poetry of Hamit Aliaj

In the relationship between literature and history there is a special space where art is not limited to the description of events, but seeks to uncover the invisible structures that have shaped and produced them. Literature does not only preserve what has happened; it seeks to understand what remains of it in the consciousness of people and in the memory of a society.

History records events, but art penetrates their echoes. What for the historian may be a fact sealed in time, for the poet remains an open wound of conscience.

It is in this space between fact and memory that the power of poetry arises: it not only restores the past, but reveals the way in which the past continues to live within the present.

Hamit Aliaj's poem "Two Windows" is also placed on this horizon.

POETRY AS THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE MEMORY OF POWER

It is not simply a poetic reflection of a historical period nor a description of two concrete spaces of power in Tirana.

Beyond its historical reference, this poem builds a profound reflection on the nature of power, on the traces it leaves in time, and on the tragic relationship between the individual, history, and memory.

At first glance, the poem starts from a concrete image: two windows facing each other in the political center of Tirana. One is the window of Enver Hoxha's office; the other is located in the building opposite, in the Prime Minister's office, a space where various figures of power have passed through, including the tragic fate of Mehmet Shehu.

True art begins exactly where description ends.

The two windows no longer remain simply physical objects or architectural elements. They transcend their concrete function and transform into poetic figures of memory. They become two centers where time, power, and historical consciousness intersect.

In this sense, “Two Windows” is an archaeology of the memory of power.

The poet does not dig into the earth, but into the hidden layers of the spiritual history of a society. He does not just look for names, dates, and events; he looks for that invisible residue that history leaves behind in the minds and souls of people.

Just as the archaeologist reconstructs a city from the remaining fragments, the poet reconstructs an era from its symbols. Windows, streets, ghosts, and lights are not just elements of an urban landscape; they become signs of a deeper reality.

POETRY AS THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE MEMORY OF POWER

The central figure of the poem is the window.

In the aesthetic and philosophical tradition, the window has always been a metaphor for openness. It is the boundary between inside and outside, between the subject and the world. Through it one sees and becomes visible. It is a threshold where two realities meet.

But in Hamit Aliaj, this symbol undergoes a powerful reversal:

"The dictator's window like a morgue lamp..."

This metaphor is one of the fundamental nodes of the poem. The light from this window is not the light of knowledge, hope, or freedom. It is a cold, dead light that illuminates the memory of an era marked by fear and silence.

The poet thus shifts the window from the space of communication to the space of testimony. It is no longer the place from which the world opens, but the place from which the nature of a power that has imposed itself on man is revealed.

The window becomes the eye of power.

It expresses a particular way of seeing: power sees everything, but refuses to be seen. It controls, defines the limits of what is permissible, and constructs a reality where it itself becomes the center of everything.

It is here that the great paradox of power arises: he who seeks to control history ends up under its judgment himself. Power tries to create its own eternity, but history turns it into an object of memory and analysis.

Opposite the dictator's window appears another window: "Ghosts of dead, living prime ministers..." This line is not just a historical reference.

POETRY AS THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE MEMORY OF POWER

The word "ghost" has a deeper existential meaning. A ghost is the presence of something that has passed, but has not disappeared. It is a being between two states: neither fully alive nor fully dead.

This image shows the tragedy of the individual in the face of absolute power. The man who enters the mechanism of power risks losing himself and becoming a shadow of the very system he thinks he owns.

Therefore, the “ghosts” of prime ministers are not just historical figures. They are symbols of a universal tragedy: absolute power not only destroys its opponents; it also deforms those who become part of it.

One of Hamit Aliaj's greatest poetic achievements is the way he transforms space into time: "A hundred years of the road between two windows..."

Here one of the fundamental magics of poetry occurs: a physical distance of a few meters is transformed into a historical distance of a century.

The path between the two windows is no longer a geographical space. It becomes a moral and metaphysical space. In it, fear, pain, memory and the unresolved questions of a society come together. Poetry suggests to us that history does not change only when buildings and institutions change. Nor when names change.

Real change occurs when a person's relationship with power, freedom, and responsibility changes.

POETRY AS THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE MEMORY OF POWER

This is why “Two Windows” is not just a poem about a political period. It is a poem about how power tries to become eternal, and how memory challenges this claim.

The artistic power of poetry lies not in the political statement, but in the power of its figures. Hamit Aliaj does not explain; he creates images that continue to think even after the poem ends.

"The morgue lamp", "ghosts", "the path between two windows" are figures where the historical, philosophical and aesthetic dimensions intertwine into a single whole.

One of the most shocking lines of the poem is: "In the morning you are a girl, in the evening you become a grandmother..."

Here time is not presented as the natural flow of life, but as a consuming force. The difficult history of a society can accelerate a person's spiritual aging.

It can take away from the individual not only freedom, but also time, the ability to wait, love and hope. But the philosophical and aesthetic climax of the poem comes in the closing verses: “History vomits in two windows: From the window of the Dictator, to the Prime Minister’s Office!”

This is one of the most daring figures in poetry. History is not presented as a wise teacher, nor as a calm narrative of the past. It vomits. The verb “vomits” brings about a complete aesthetic inversion. It brings poetry closer to the tragic grotesque: history is a body that cannot digest what it has experienced and is forced to bring it back to the surface.

In a philosophical sense, this means that the morally raw past does not disappear. It returns. It demands to be seen. It appears again through the same windows.

In this sense, history is not only a memory of the past, but also a symptom of the present.

POETRY AS THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE MEMORY OF POWER

Therefore, the movement from the “Dictator’s Window” to the “Prime Minister” is not just a movement in space. It is a question of the continuity of history. It is a warning that changing the forms of power does not always guarantee changing its logic.

In the end, the two windows become more than symbols. They become two ways of seeing history. One is the window of power, which seeks to control time and memory. The other is the window of poetry, which opens the past to be seen, understood, and judged. This is precisely where the artistic greatness of Hamit Aliaj’s poem “Two Windows” lies. It does not just give us a memory of the past; it confronts us with the responsibility of the present./ CNA