Sacred Woman - Halima Xudoyberdiyeva

Your lovers have thrown flowers at your feet,

In solitude they have tasted honey from your lips,

And they have sold it to anyone at all,

You are sacred anyway, sacred woman.

First they came to fill your embrace, and told you to shine

You did not consent, woman, though people said the opposite

Unable to reach you, they turned their faces and called you bitter

You are sacred anyway, sacred woman.

You flutter your wings slowly and you lay your head down,

It’s been thousands of years, your eyes sparkle with tears,

A thousand and one criminals will hurt you with stones,

You are sacred anyway, sacred woman.

Though you come silently when summoned, though you come uselessly,

Though you come humbly to the drunken circle, though you come pleading to scoundrels,

Though you come oppressed to the scoundrels, though you come humbly,

You are sacred anyway, sacred woman.

In fact you’ll have amusements where you go,

Good and bad stories where you go,

You’ll have men like wild horses where you go,

You are sacred anyway, sacred woman.

Your silk-perfume body has the marks of stones,

Your bosom has the traces of heads that have leaned there,

You have the remnants of suns whose sun-fire has burned out,

You are sacred anyway, sacred woman.

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Halima Xudoyberdiyeva (born 1947) Uzbekistan

Translated by Johanna-Hypatia Cybeleia

Source: Zocalo Poets