I miss you my country

translated by Aziz Isa Elkun

(poet unkown)


The pain in my soul and tears in my eyes

If I see a Uyghur person coming in the distance
My desire will come flooding in like the sea
I miss you my country. 

I can’t stand a moment without thinking of you
You are there at the most beautiful cliff
I can’t stay a moment without thinking of you
You are there in my beautiful dreams.
I buried my greatest hopes inside you
I miss you my country. 

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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!” 

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Music

Aziz Isa Elkun 

I can hear faint music
It comes from outside like a ghost
I guess it comes from an old piano
An old lady plays
Missing her sweetheart…
It slowly reaches my window
“You are welcome” I said to myself
“Can you cleanse my depressed soul?”
Then the piano becomes louder
I believe music can heal our feelings of rage
Inspire our poems
So pure and innocent 
So kind and sympathetic
It brings things back to you
Maybe beautiful memories you have lost.

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