Thread by @jlfreeman6

Abduwéli Ershidin Bozlan is part of a remarkable generation of avant-garde #Uyghur poets who came of age in the 2000s. Here is my translation of my favorite of Bozlan's works, a strangely compelling and romantic poem I keep coming back to. Tr. published in @harvardadvocate

1/5

THE OLD ERA AND THE WOLF GIRL
Bozlan

You secretly try to howl my heart,
a thousand years I've lain listening as you howled among bones.
Our souls were two bullets shot at each other,
when our corpses like buried cities are half uncovered,
you secretly try to howl my heart.

2/5

You secretly try to howl my heart,
ruins flow through veins like a dead man's lost body.
Our tunnels back to you were choked up with mud and clay,
when the peal of a bell breaks through the wine cup,
you secretly try to howl my heart.

3/5

You secretly try to howl my heart,
Oghuz Khan followed you here in dark nights bending toward the moon.
Our oval heads did battle before the flag,
in the window dusk when we blind each other like mindless birds,
you secretly try to howl my heart.

4/5

You secretly try to howl my heart,
what broken and clumsy corpses we are!
The last ladies in waiting, king and manservants bury us,
and in that arrowhead where our souls find peace,
you secretly try to howl my heart.

5/5