Aziz Isa Elkun
In these years that pass by full of memories,
I lived on your streets with constant effort.
My hope shines like an ever bright star,
I will celebrate you today with flowers.
I love this life, this world so beautiful,
I live in the desert and dream of the oasis.
I wish to soar like an eagle,
I wish the blue sky for my homeland!
A refugee has many untold stories,
White feathered seagulls witness his adventures on the sea.
His countless homesick summers and winters,
Weeping rain drops his constant companion.
The young man who left his home grew up,
He never took comfort from tears.
Though separation pierced his life,
He trusted that joyful days would arrive.
His loved ones left on the horizon,
Forced to live in solitary exile,
He kept seeing the Tarim* in his dreams,
Seeing Oghuz* who was abandoned among the wolves.
Life goes by without caring,
It has no intention of going back.
So I didn’t stay idle under the thieving years,
I strove hard to present them with flowers.
My children are almost as tall as me now,
I feel the worries of life have just begun.
Should I admit that I am grown up,
Remembering my own father’s smiling face?
Elkun* will never be tamed by life’s destiny,
He will be reborn once every year.
He will live on with his faith given by God,
Every year until the summer solstice day arrives!
22 June 2016, London
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Notes
* Tarim – is a name of the river. The Tarim River the world’s longest land-locked river with a length of 2,030 km, which flows down from the Himalayas into the Uyghur Autonomous Region (Xinjiang) of China.
* Oguz – is a legendary hero of the Uyghur and other Turkic peoples who lived in the 2nd century BCE.
* Elkun – the poet’s pen name. It means “people, folk, or a day in people’s life” in Uyghur and Turkic languages.
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Read the original version of this poem in Uyghur language:
http://www.azizisa.org/kun_we_tun_tengleshken/
