Three poems
No poem titles are provided
by Abai Kunanbayev
Save me—how can I preserve
my heart from evil people—
their wicked, snake-in-the-grass talk
tears it into forty pieces.
Those I loved are no longer.
My friend has turned into my enemy—
light darkens with evil.
I cannot find support from anyone.
Old age is breathing in my face.
The time of hopes is past.
Self-love comforts the fools,
And ignoramuses pester me.
Who mourns the filth of the earth
will understand my worries,
and will keep the soul pure,
and the imperishable light will save it.
Source: Qūnanbaev, A. (2005). Book of words. Semey: Abai International Club.
Untitled Poem
By Abai Kunanbayev
Look how he lies to you, he’s perfidious and cunning,
ready for everything to save himself, restoring his soul.
Friendship, enmity are all the same to him.
Vanity of vanities alone troubles his shallow nature.
He’s known heartache and surfeit and rapture,
but he’s wrenched black jealousy from himself!
Now honour and conscience serve his carnal delights.
He lives in the present, not grieving in the least for the future.
Nearest and dearest are now two-faced,
enemies are stronger than friends, vengeance triumphs all around,
treachery in deeds, perfidiousness in love…
What times these are! How can we endure them?
Although you’re of an age, you’re not mature yet:
you enjoy playing pranks like a kid.
The father scolds his son like a friend would,
but is it fitting for the son to abuse the father!
Source: Qūnanbaev, A. (2005). Book of words. Semey: Abai International Club.
The Bird
by Ardakh Nurgaz
When I woke up, my wooden cradle was rocking
Slowly, in the wind
Sinking into the ringing of the bell at the bottom of my heart
As a ghost of thousand years emerged
I was following the candle in the hand of a night watchman
When a sword-like swan
Flew towards the abyss of the black skies
At my ears, the wind was calling
What was rushing towards me was the sound of a qin that had disappeared
in the great desert
The sad cries of camelets and the deep thoughts of a dry lake
When I opened my eyes
A bird came flying over
Saying as it chirped:
‘The walnut tree is your mother
and your name is Kipchaks’
Notes:
Qin is a musical instrument.
Kipchaks are one of the ethnic races in Central Asia. Legend has it that they were born out of a tree.
Source: ArdakhNurgaz
Five Poems by Ардак НУРГАЗЫ in English, Chinese and Kazakh
MYP – Grade 10
Poetry Selections
Table of Contents:
1. A Different History by Sujata Bhatt
2. Alone by Philip Levine
3. The Cockroach by Kevin Halligan
4. The Woodspurge by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
5. Neutral Tones by Thomas Hardy
6. I love you first, but afterwards your love by Christina Rosetti
7. Somewhere or other by Christina Rosetti
8. City Planners by Margaret Atwood
9. The Planners by Boey Kim Cheng
10. Bird by ArdakhNurgaz
11. I Found a 1950s “Answer and Color-in Book” by Jennifer Barber
12. Inviting a friend to Supper by Ben Jonson
13. Before you knocked by Sara Holbrook and Allan Wolf
14. I Hope She Likes the Way I Wear My Tee by Allan Wolf
15. You Think I Dressed Myself for Him Today? by Sara Holbrook
16. Dulce et Decorum by Geraldine Robertson Glasgow
17. Regime Change by Andrew Motion
18. The Battle by Louis Simpson
19. August 6, 1945 by Millen Brand
20. The Sorrow of Sarajevo by Goran Simic (Translated by David Harsent)
21. Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas
22. I Do Not Love Thee by Caroline Norton
23. Untitled by Stephen Crane
24. Introduction to Poetry by Billy Collins
25. It was a Dream by Lucille Clifton
26. Even If You Weren’t My Father by Camillo Sbarbaro
27. Acquainted with The Night by Robert Frost
28. On Reading Poems to a Senior Class At South High byBy D. C. Berry
29. Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden
30. 1943 by Donald Hall
31. Fear by Lawrance Raab
32. Another Reason I don’t keep a Gun in the House by Billy Collins
33. Facing Itby YusefKomunyakaa
34. This is a Photograph of Me by Margaret Atwood
35. If you Forget Me by Pablo Neruda
36. The Commission by Roger McGough
37. I Know Where Yesterday Has Gone by Cindy Booth
38. Undeserved Sweetness by Ben Okri
39. Borderless Africa by Susan NalugwaKiguli
40. A Morning Dream by Li Ching Chao
41. Untitled poem by Abai
42. Thoughts in a Tranquil Night by Li Po
43. Untitled poem by Abai
44. Repetition by Phil Kay