Wednesday, 14 October 2020

Kashgar

Kashgar, Kashgar, for how many years have you been 
My ultimate destination? Now you’re published 
On the tourist lists of “last chance to see” 
As China swings its wrecking ball 
Through your ancient Turkic homes 
That don’t fit stamp of the Han. 

Crumbling old mud and tiled lanes 
Of granddad, auntie craft works. 
Why are the horseshoe makers closed? 
Look where the Uighurs’ Nomad horse fairs are no more. 
Free people tied to Urumqi factories or prisons 
They don’t fit the stamp of the Han 

What point is there now 
In the fabled Sunday market of Kashgar? 
There is no value when
A concrete travesty has trampled 
This glorious meeting of the silk roads 
There is no sense in this westward 
Wrecking march of the Han

LM Collis 2009

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