ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS OF UYGHUR POETRY
Perhat Tursun (1969-) is one of the foremost living Uyghur language poets, if he is still alive. Tursun has been described as a "self-professed Kafka character" and that comes through splendidly in poems of his like "Elegy." Unfortunately, Tursun was "disappeared" into a Chinese "reeducation" concentration camp where extreme psychological torture is the norm. According to a disturbing report he was later "hospitalized."
Elegy
by Perhat Tursun
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
"Your soul is the entire world."
— Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha
......
In China's dawn, the suona's wail doth rise,
A serpentine melody through mist it twists,
Its brass body gleams 'neath the light that shyly glows,
A guardian of tales, a weaver of mists.
The villagers stir as the suona's cry passes by,
A rooster crows, dogs bark, hens cluck in jest,
It weeps for the born, for the dead it cries,
A herald of joy, a mourner of woe.
......
My country, I cry for thee...
We stood for prosperity...
For all the world to see...
We were once proud...
Land where our families grew...
Together, me and you...
One country, through and through...
We were once proud...
......
In China's dawn, the suona's wail doth rise,
A serpentine melody through mist it twists,
Its brass body gleams 'neath the light that shyly glows,
A guardian of tales, a weaver of mists.
The villagers stir as the suona's cry passes by,
A rooster crows, dogs bark, hens cluck in jest,
It weeps for the born, for the dead it cries,
A herald of joy, a mourner of woe.
......
ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS OF UYGHUR POETRY
Perhat Tursun (1969-) is one of the foremost living Uyghur language poets, if he is still alive. Tursun has been described as a "self-professed Kafka character" and that comes through splendidly in poems of his like "Elegy." Unfortunately, Tursun was "disappeared" into a Chinese "reeducation" concentration camp where extreme psychological torture is the norm. According to a disturbing report he was later "hospitalized."
Elegy
by Perhat Tursun
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
"Your soul is the entire world."
— Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha
......
My country, I cry for thee...
We stood for prosperity...
For all the world to see...
We were once proud...
Land where our families grew...
Together, me and you...
One country, through and through...
We were once proud...
......