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.
(Lewen yala – لەۋەن يالا Uyghur folk song)
Translated by Aziz Isa Elkun
Lewen yala.mp3 – by Rahimä Mahmut
Young children are playing
They use willow twigs as a hobby horse
The exiles weep for their homeland
Oh my sweetheart
Oh, how miserable I am!
Sad and weeping in the desert
We settled on the mountains
Because we could not stay in our gardens
This is the life we are living
Not surrendering to our enemy
Oh my sweetheart
Oh, how miserable I am!
Sad and weeping in the desert
I play my dutar all alone
My black eyes are crying
I am a wanderer in your town
No one hears my words
Oh my sweetheart
Oh, how miserable I am!
Sad and weeping in the desert
Oh, how miserable I am!
Sad and weeping in the desert
Aziz Isa Elkun
Before ….
Before you feel endless homesickness
Before you feel the life is meaningless
Before your hair becomes all white
Before your grandchildren marry
Before you learn what’s wrong and what’s right
Before your teeth fall out
Before you have an extra leg
Before you travel with an electric chair
Before …
