Chimenqush – a flower bird

Chimenqush
Chimengul Awut, she is a well known Uyghur (female) poet and her pen name is “Chimenqush” (it means a flower bird). She worked for Kashgar Uyghur Publishers as a senior editor before she was taken away to the China’s Concentration Camps in July 2018. She’s good friend of mine, last time I have spoken with her on the phone in August 2016. Here is her shortest poem written for her son before her arrest. Poem extracted from her WeChat page. 

She wrote:

“My dear son
Please don’t cry
The whole world will cry for you!” 

So let’s cry together for Chimengul and other thousands of unknown Chimanguls’ freedom in the Uyghur homeland! Lets’ cry for the release of millions of innocent Uyghur people from China’s 21st Century Concentration Camps!

Now, here is my poem dedicated for Chimengul’s freedom:

Chimenqush – a flower bird

Aziz Isa Elkun

Chimenqush (1)
The flower bird of Kashgar
The moment before the smell of hot summer went away
You were happy singing in the village
Your footprints were still fresh in the dust.

So I said
I can’t believe you have become a wilted flower
I can’t believe you have become a caged bird
I want to break the lock of that cage
I want to curse all the locks in our world
I want to burn away all evil with my rage
The fire of revenge will consume them …

Your poems will soar
In the blue sky where you belong
Because the sky is free, unlike you
It can visit you through your narrow window
When you feel sad …

Chimenqush
I know you were never afraid of the seasons
I know no one can cheat you
You will return one day

You will come back next spring
Holding a bunch of flowers in your hand.

If you don’t come
The poplar trees won’t blossom
The peach trees won’t bloom in Beshkerem (2)
Swallows won’t fly over the city of Kashgar
Life won’t go on without you!

1st November 2018. London

______________________
Notes:
1. Chimenqush (literary translation: a flower bird) – the pen name of Chimengul Awut
2. Beshkerem – a small town near Kashgar city. This town is famous with peaches.

Read the original Uyghur version of this poem:
http://www.azizisa.org/chimenqush/