The dawns you are in will rise again

The dawns you are in will rise again
The dawns you are in will rise again
The dawns you are in will rise again,
Filling my arms with you,
Putting dew on the lashes
Of the crescent that has gone not giving up.

Will stretch the roads wide,
To the bottom of your doorsteps.
Will bring your longing,
The dove cooing at your window.
Perfume of the branches,
Will drizzle to my imagination.

Yearning to you as clear as moonlight,
Passed my door a thousand times.
Spreading out their leaves,
Lies the dreams like red flowers.

Like your lip kissing my burning lip,
The dawns you are in will rise again.

--- Gulnisa Emin
Translated by RFA’s Uyghur Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

Night

I wish the night was short, like my hair,
And that it was bright, like my heart,
And I could tie the distance between us with my life.
These tears are nothing but drops from my eyes,
And now I'm being rusted by them.

Yet the night is long, like my thoughts,
And horrifying, like my dreams,
And the distance as endless as my longing.
The sun is drunk, on the other side of the long pass where I came from,
Embraced by the night.

My hair has grayed,
But the night has remained dark.
Half of my hair is gone,
But the night is as thick as before.

⁠— Abdushukur Muhammet ( Uyghur poet)

waiting for the wind to come

waiting for the wind to come

will it be the east wind

the west wind ?
will it be the north wind
the south wind ?
will it be the wind that blows ahead
or behind ?

how absurd it is to trust the fate of a country
and one's own fate
on the vagaries of the 'wind'

--- Hu Minzhi

No Road Back Home

In this forgotten place I have no lover’s touch
Each night brings darker dreams, I have no amulet
My life is all I ask, I have no other thirst
These silent thoughts torment, I have no way to hope

Who I once was, what I’ve become, I cannot know
Who could I tell my heart’s desires, I cannot say
My love, the temper of the fates I cannot guess
I long to go to you, I have no strength to move

Through cracks and crevices I’ve watched the seasons change
For news of you I’ve looked in vain to buds and flowers
To the marrow of my bones I’ve ached to be with you
What road led here, why do I have no road back home

---Abduqadir Jalalidin (a detained Uighur poet, bears witness to the suffering of Uighurs detained in Chinese so-called “reeducation” camps) 

Pouring Myself Drinks Alone By Moonlight

Amid the flowers — a flask of wine　
I pour alone — no company
I raise my cup to invite the moon　
Then moon, my shadow and I are three
But no the moon knows not how to drink 　
And my shadow does naught but follow me
Yet I quickly make friends of moon and shadow　
Enjoy what spring there may yet be
I sing — the moon just maunders on　
I dance —my shadow flails away
Still lucid — we share in common pleasure　
Blind drunk — each goes his separate way
Let us join to roam beyond all cares　
And meet afar in the Milky Way

--- Li Bai
Translated by A.Z. Foreman

Rented Room

十平米左右的空间
A space of ten square meters

局促，潮湿，终年不见天日
Cramped and damp, no sunlight all year

我在这里吃饭，睡觉，拉屎，思考
Here I eat, sleep, shit, and think

咳嗽，偏头痛，生老，病不死
Cough, get headaches, grow old, get sick but still fail to die

昏黄的灯光下我一再发呆，傻笑
Under the dull yellow light again I stare blankly, chuckling like an idiot

来回踱步，低声唱歌，阅读，写诗
I pace back and forth, singing softly, reading, writing poems

每当我打开窗户或者柴门
Every time I open the window or the wicker gate

我都像一位死者
I seem like a dead man

把棺材盖，缓缓推开
Slowly pushing open the lid of a coffin.

---Xu Lizhi (1990-2014)

Mind has no color

Mind has no color,
Is neither long nor short,
Doesn't appear or disappear;
It is free from both purity and impurity;
It was never born and can never die;
It is utterly serene.
This is the form of our
Original mind,
Which is also our original body.

- Hui-hai (8th cent)

Ancient Chinese Proverb

Go to the people

Live among them

Learn from them

Love them

Start with what they have

Build on what they have

But of the best leaders

When their task is accomplished

Their work is done

The people all remark

We have done it ourselves !

- Lao Tze