Nazarii Nazarov, Kyiv, Ukraine
Translated by Nazarii Nazarov
1
Oh lynx from the Southern Yangay
As big as a foal
With spotted front legs
Oh how comely you are
2
When summer was gracious and happy
Oh my winged birds
Why didn’t you come singing
From the shores of a big distant sea?
3
A bird from the northern realm
Is singing on the northern slope
A herdsman—my younger son—
Is dashing with a hook in his hand
4
With a sacred pile of stones on your top
Khangay
Blessed by myriads of men
Khangay
With a winter shelter at your foot
Khangay
Blessed by many—by everybody
5
A foal—born to a red mare
On the top of a mountain—
During the solemn race he overtook
My snake-like bay horse
6
Riding a red comely camel
I will go across vast Gobi
Under the flame of hot sun
I will get tanned—riding
Sources of the original texts:
1: А. Дылгырова. Песенное творчество закаменских бурят: традиция бытования. - Улан-Удэ, 2008.
2 - 6: П. Хорло. Народная песенная поэзия монголов. - Новосибирск: Наука, 1989.
Nazarii Nazarov lives in Kyiv, Ukraine, where he teaches Ukrainian and Russian, and explores poetical traditions of the world. He writes his poetry and prose in English, Ukrainian and Russian. His interpretation and translation of Mongol and Buryat folk songs depicts the world of nomads that still coexists within the natural environment, and the brotherhood they share with creatures like horses, lynxes and camels.