Translated by Aziz Isa & Rachel Harris
Rak Muqam Second Dastan
Horliqa Hemrajan
Left here by my cruel brothers
All that you see, you must tell them
Lonely Hemra left in this hut
Not dead but at peace, tell them.
Terrible troubles have fallen on my head
Food and drink are like poison to me
My eyes gouged out, abandoned in this hut
My companions like snakes and scorpions, tell them.
Translated by Aziz Isa Elkun
by Abdurehim Abdulla
All the poets talk of mother
Do you not remember your fathers?
They are such fathers
That even tigers might envy.
They are such fathers
That many beauties admired them
Sharp knives ready to strike
If any betrayer should appear.
Translated by Aziz Isa & Rachel Harris
In the 1860s Russia invaded Ghulja and around 10,000 Ghulja Taranchi (from the Mongol language taran meaning wheat) were moved across the border into what is now Kazakhstan. These people have been moving for centuries – moved from Southern Uyghur region in the seventeenth century by the Qing, 100 households were moved from different villages around Aqsu, Kashgar, Yarkand. Today some places in Ghulja are still called, for example, Dolan Yuz – the hundred Dolan households; Turpan Yuz – the hundred households from Turpan. Some of the families who were moved to Russia fled back to China in the 1930s under Stalin´s white terror.
Thinking of leaving
We made boats
All along the White Khan (Russians) and the Black Khan (Chinese)
Were in alliance together.
