Aziz Isa Elkun
When the morning star smiled with happiness,
When my spring bloomed from my fifties,
When this life passes and love is never enough,
The world is beautiful to us, truly beautiful!
If not a lover, the nightingale won’t alight on the flowering branch,
Until a young man grows, he won’t achieve his desires,
If he is a man, he will never break his promise.
A man must struggle hard to reach his destination.
My star shines like a torch in the dark night,
The full moon has become my companion shadow
When will my Sun come out with fiery warmth,
Your life will pass by if you don’t grasp it.
This life passes like flowing water,
Each day dawns and never returns,
Day by day the strength leaks from your limbs,
Until one day you understand life’s truth.
People come into the world with tears,
They depart with the tears of their loved ones,
People who did good deeds leave behind a good name.
Such questions will be asked of everyone.
When you have travelled for a while on life’s journey,
You will naturally ask the meaning of life,
But you won’t solve life’s mystery,
As the passing years curve your spine.
I ask myself these questions,
Did I come to this world only to live?
How can I live on when there is burning pain?
When the earth feels hard, and the sky is high.
Today, when half a century has passed by,
Today, as the Uyghur world has fallen into crisis,
Today, when justice is distant from the Uyghurs,
Elkun’s heart is bleeding from this calamity!
With my healer, I gaze at the tranquil night,
I flew to the horizon with my dazzling star,
I begged God for help and looked at him with hope,
There is the sound of an echo saying the Uyghurs will survive.
The Grey Wolf’s howl sounds out from afar,
The victory march can be heard from ear to ear,
Calls for freedom erupt from spring to spring,
Saying enough, now the Uyghurs will stand up!
June 22, 2020, London
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Read the original Uyghur language version of this poem:
http://www.azizisa.org/omur-baharim
Read Turkish translation of this poem:
http://www.azizisa.org/en/hayatimin-bahari