TENTH NIGHT: THE SUNLESS SKY

The women’s prison
Smiles from under the snow
The women’s prison
Emerges running at daybreak.
Dirty, cracked and bleeding hands
Marked on the surface of white snow
A map of the women’s prison.

They don’t want to shed their tears
They just want to lift their heads
They just want to gaze at the sunless sky.
Their troubles, their yearning
Their nightmares and sleepless nights
They want to talk about it with someone on the
outside.

GÜLNISA IMIN GÜLKHAN (BORN 1976)
TRANSLATED BY AZIZ ISA ELKUN

Han China illegally occupied Uyghuristan in 1949. After a sham Court process the Han Chinese incarcerated Gülnisa Imin Gülkhan for around 19 years. If Gülnisa survives starvation and torture in Han Chinese prisons, she will come out a free woman once more in 1936.

https://tibet.net/not-just-india-tibet-china-has-17-territorial-disputes-with-its-neighbours-on-land-sea/

From Uyghur Poems published by Everyman’s Library, edited by Aziz Isa Elkun, translated by Aziz Isa Elkun and others. 2023.