在我骨上歇息｜rest on my bones

by Alkar Sarsenbek/English translation by PLS

我把肋骨一根根摆正，像为你
铺一条通往清晨的阶梯。请在我骨上歇息，
不要以火降临 —— 请以光降临；
不要以锋利降临 —— 请以沉默降临。

你知道夜怎样把我们抬高：
像把一碗盐举起，让饥渴的影子
俯身吞尽。请在我骨上歇息，
让我听见，血里的，那温柔的鼓。

我不求胜，我只求被置于
你已到达与尚未到达之间 ——
那里的风，如未被呼出的名字，
在你的沉默中慢慢成形。

请在我骨上歇息。
若终将坠落，请你先落，
我随后；如落叶随风，
如祈祷随喉。
请在我骨上歇息：我愿为你而空。

阿勒，现居哈萨克斯坦。

i arrange the ribs one by one, as if building
a staircase to the morning for you. please rest on my bones,
don’t descend as fire, but light,
nor as blade, but silence.

you know how the night raises us:
as if lifting a bowl of salt, to let the hungry shadow
stoop and eat it up. please rest on my bones,
and let me hear the tender drum in the blood.

i yearn not to win, but to be placed
between what you’ve reached and what you haven’t——
the wind over there, like the names yet to be called
taking shape slowly in your silence.

please rest on my bones.
if there has to be a fall eventually, please fall first,
and i’ll follow; like the leaves that follow the wind,
like the prayers that tread the throat.
please rest on my bones: i will remain hollow for you.

Alkar Sarsenbek currently lives in Kazakstan.