Tajikistan

It’s that middle part of the map that people forget. You have some idea of Russian culture, and perhaps some idea of Irani, Pakistani... maybe even Afghani. But you look at the former SSRs and realise, you don’t really know much about them—you don’t, for instance, know much about the 7 million or so Tajik people of Tajikistan, and that the Tajik language is a modern variety of Persian. But this is a area that has a long history—it’s been inhabited continuously for around 6000 years. In 875 CE the Samanid Empire was established here. More recently, as the USSR broke up, Tajikistan declared its independence on 9 September 1991.

As well as Persian history, there’s Scythian history, contact with the Han Dynasty of China in the second century BCE, the introduction of Islam by Arabic people in the seventh century CE, the presence of the Mongols, and to jump back a little, perhaps most fascinating of all to me, even a small community of Jews who were displaced from the Middle East after the Babylonian capitivity found their way to the Tajik region around 600 BCE. Now that’s a diverse history.

And then there was Russia—the Russian Empire spread to Central Asia in the 19th century, and when Imperial Russia came to an end, the Central Asian basmachi, local guerrillas, failed to gain independence from the Bolsheviks. Unfortunately this led to the destruction of mosques and villages, and the persecution of Muslims, Jews and Christians. Many Bukharian Jews emigrated during the Soviet era, and a lot settled in the United States (particularly New York City), re-establishing their communities in a new country.

Independence hasn’t been smooth sailing—first, the country fell straight into civil war, with factions based on clan loyalties. There have been allegations of ethnic cleansing. A ceasefire was reached in 1997, with elections held peacefully in 1999—but while these elections were peaceful, the opposition also claims they were unfair. The most recent election was boycotted by many opposition parties. These days Russian, American, Indian and French troops are stationed in the country, while borders Afghanistan.

Something extra nice about the country? Poetry is a really important part of their culture. I am always heartened to hear that a place values its poets. And yes, I have a poem for you, by Bozor Sobir. Once again it comes from Language for a New Century.

Letters

I opened your letters
And I have them up to the air,
That they might become spring clouds,
That letters of memories
Might weep over the hills,
That they might weep springs and rivers.
That the letters might weep over us.

Last night I told a story
Of you to the wild wind.
In memory of you I recited from memory
A verse to the streams,
That the water might bear it away
And tell it to the rivers,
That the wind might bear it away
And sing it to the plains.

Last night under the rain
I walked road by road in my thoughts.
Your tresses strand by strand
In my thoughts I walked, braiding strands.
The kisses that had not been planted on your lips
—Along, all along the road,
Along the edge, the edge of the stream—
I walked, planting them in the ground.
So that, ever following in my footsteps
—Along, all along the road,
On the edge, the edge of the stream—
Kisses might grow like daisies,
Kisses might grow like wild mint.

Last night it rained and rained.
The water was too much for the river to hold.
Last night my loneliness
Was too much for me alone to hold….

Last night the April rain
Washed the footprints from the ground.
The wound in my heart grew worse,
Because it washed away the imprint of your foot.
Last night I wandered the streets in vain,
Like a hunter who has lost the trail I searched….

Last night the world was all water,
The sky was refreshed,
The ground was refreshed,
But I, with your name on my lips,
All alone like the parched land
I burned up under the rain.

—Bozor Sobir
translated from the Tajik by Judith M. Wilks
from Language for a New Century