Songs

Жүрегім менің қырық жамау

На сорок лоскутьев тоскою

 This harsh world has broken my heart

 Into forty pieces leaving just grief,

 My soul has been savaged and torn apart—

 Now ravaged it lies, deprived of belief. Read more »

Жаз

Лето

When summer in the mountains gains its peak,

When gaily blooming flowers begin to fade,

When nomads from the sunshine refuge seek Read more »

Өлең – сөздің патшасы, сөз сарасы

Поэзия властитель языка

Poetic speech, the Queen of literature, implies

The finest words put well together by the wisest bards.

Words that a person easily can memorise,

Words that will smoothly flow and touch the heart. Read more »

Күшік асырап ит еттім

Собаку я выкормил из щенка

My puppy grew into a dog—

And my leg it bit one day.

I taught a youngster once to shoot

He may take my life away.

Translated by Dorian Rottenberg

Жүрегім, нені сезесің

Одинокое, не ищи

Lonely heart, do not seek response

On your road with calamities lined.

My soul, do not wander, keep still for once

If no refuge from life you can find. Read more »

Нұрлы аспанға тырысып өскенсін сен

Рос ты, к небу устремляясь головой

Knowing naught of life’s consuming pain,

Children strain to grow and reach the sky.

So the shoots of spring stretch toward the sun

And the frosts of winter months defy. Read more »

Өлсем орным қара жер сыз болма ма?

                 Когда умру, не стану ль я землей?

Is not the cold damp earth to enclose my clay when it dies?

Will not my fearless tongue become like a timid maid?

Will not my heart be frozen, turned into lifeless ice,

My heart, that fought against vice and the biddings of love obeyed? Read more »

Желсіз түнде жарық ай

         Тихой ночью при луне

In the silent, luminous night

On the water the moonbeams quiver.

In the gully beyond the aul

Tumultuous, roars the river. Read more »

Жүректе қайрат болмаса

  If an empty heart is accompanied

By a lack of reason and will,

The immortal light of the soul will fade

And your human worth will be nil. Read more »

Жапырағы қуарған ескі үмітпен

                                      Я надеялся – листья надежды желты

I hoped—the leaves of hope are shed.

I dreamed—my dreams were all deceit.

It pains my heart when I recall

My tale of ruin and defeat. Read more »