天山古風

山中不知歲月。

月照天山冰雪。

正是中秋時節。

煮羊頭。添奶酒。點星辰。

走馬青草地。還我胡兒身。

願如天山雪。長做伊犁人。

Mountains have no schedules. But the light

I see on Tengri Mountain's snow tonight

Makes me think it's Mid-Autumn. That sound right?

The boiling of the sheep (no, goat?) head then 

Another round of horse-milk gin. And then

Let's leave the yurt and count the stars.

I rode across the grasslands and got back

My nomad fathers' honorable scars.

Oh, I could live here, like the snow, each night,

And write my life in Ili men's memoirs.

English translation by Ash Faulkner