On the bank of the Danube River
Poet: Abdughopur Qutluq (Kazakhstan)
Translated from Uyghur by Aziz Isa (United Kingdom)
Great River Danube, you are flowing with waves.
Now I am standing at your bank, do you recognise me?
Have you yet asked who I am?
Have you asked the hero Attila who once crossed you?
Here I come to visit you today, bringing with me a great desire-
So there is no other way I could give up my wishes-
Because I am still so thirsty-
Because I cannot drink the wine of liberty.
Do you recognise me by my embroidered hat?
I am Uyghur but I don’t have a flag at the UN-
Yes I have a country but not an independent state!
So I have no status in the world!
Though the Huns are not strangers to the Uyghurs-
Because life tastes better with freedom-
But we are living under a dictatorship!
The Uyghurs for a long time have had no happiness.
Do you recognise me by my embroidered hat?
The Huns and the Uyghurs spread from the same father-
And the world once saw-
From Orkhun to the Tarim in our hands.
Without asking consent I drink your water with my hands-
We are brothers created by God.
When I see your blue smiling eyes-
My heart is sad and my tears flow...
21st February 2011
Budapest
