Sutej Hugu recently translated an Indigenous poem by his old friend Elder Bukun. It is written in the Isbukun dialect of Bunun language spoken by about 20,000 people who live in central to southern mountainous areas of Taiwan. It presents the diversity and vitality of custodians for territories of life around this planet who have gone through all the historical and contemporary discrimination, marginalisation and destruction to survive and revive. ayoy!

Kaidahdahas sii mas dalahtus’a

Kaidahdahas sii mas dalahtus’a
Makussaissais a buan mas vali
Matatahis mas dalahtus’atin siaan itu is’a’aminan tu haiza
Taisahan  sasdu
Ti’iv’ivaas kailaspuan tu ‘iv’iv a pusuh siaa ludun’usaviah
Nii tu mumuktas  nii tu ishahanuaz
 
Buanhainsazan mas nimnim tu sinpakus’ang
Alibas sinpakaduu tu pinit’umum tu bintuhan
kinisuan mas bahbah
Tinsapuz
Itu takna tu hamisan tu mahudas
 
Tis’amaus bununtan a tainulushuas tus’atin
Inuhalhalas pudiastan mas sainsiahuas pakatus’atin mais na
tintus’a
Sinpalasmuav kaihas’azan paihusaban pisvavanduan
Saikakivas inunpaspasas naminhamisan tu pinislatuhan
Mashing  taingisas ubuh tu istina tu ngit
 
Pailis’unis maihaidang tu davushaizu
Na issiduhduh mas na mi’uluk tu mukun tu duhduh
Makatanuduh tu ima muzuzu a pinisvikan mas dalahtus’atin
Paitalnau mas patishuan bintuhan uvaaz mas labian
 
Sitatini a ngutus simangha siaa ludun’usaviah tu taungku 
pisdadaidaz
maisimus’anang tu paitalikaputan sausiaa saikakivas
sainbaiavan



          Bukun
          2023/06/18

Distance Between Poetry and the World / Elder Bukun

Come alternately Moon and Sun
Keep knitting the world, knitting it onto the magical implements of sages
Dreams, sweat
The umbilicus atop of Mount Usaviah* is blown by the breeze of nostalgia
It won't break, it won't scab

The Big Dipper and murmurs of lips
The stars cooked in the love-embraced early morning
Kissed by tears
Bursting out with sparks
Yesterday’s whiteness of winter

Humanity carries the change of seasons
Where the meteors fall and the dawn messenger shines before daybreak
Trickery, jealousy, places of copulation, prayers
The last place of retrospect when the sound of the bowstring is played after the autumn fades
Pure the smile of a crying baby’s mom

About the sour wine that was originally blood
To soak up the quagmire of red quinoa that is waking up
Sighs of the world leaking from fingers
Brewed by fireflies, stars, children and the night

Raised nose of solitude on the top of Mount Usaviah
Tells about love and loneliness
From the first hug to the beam of sunset looking back

Come alternately Moon and Sun
Keep knitting the world, knitting it onto the magical implements of sages
Dreams, sweat
The umbilicus atop of Mount Usaviah* is blown by the breeze of nostalgia
It won't break, it won't scab

The Big Dipper and murmurs of lips
The stars cooked in the love-embraced early morning
Kissed by tears
Bursting out with sparks
Yesterday’s whiteness of winter

Humanity carries the change of seasons
Where the meteors fall and the dawn messenger shines before daybreak
Trickery, jealousy, places of copulation, prayers
The last place of retrospect when the sound of the bowstring is played after the autumn fades
Pure the smile of a crying baby’s mom

About the sour wine that was originally blood
To soak up the quagmire of red quinoa that is waking up
Sighs of the world leaking from fingers
Brewed by fireflies, stars, children and the night
  
Raised nose of solitude on the top of Mount Usaviah
Tells about love and loneliness
From the first hug to the beam of sunset looking back

          Translated by Sutej Hugu
          2024/01/15

* Usaviah is the honorific name for the Mount Jade by Bunun people to express their respect for this land. According to legend, the Bunun ancestors took refuge in Mount Jade during the big flood and reproduced their offspring here. So, it is the most important sacred mountain to them that, when migrating, choosing the site where you can see Mount Jade is the basic principle.

About the author

Sutej Hugu, based in Pongso no Tao, co-founded and was elected as first Chairperson of the Cultural Taiwan Consortium in 2000, a national NGO that set out to work towards an integrated national identity by seeking connectedness to the land and nature. Since 2010, he has served as CEO for the Tao Foundation, championing a campaign to remove a nuclear waste repository that was “temporarily” established in Lanyu Island thirty years ago. In 2013, Hugu has helped to establish the China ICCA Working Group with Honorary members from different parts of the huge country. In 2014, with some veterans of the indigenous peoples movement, he assisted in launching the Taiwan Indigenous Conserved Territories Union (TICTU), at the presence of the ICCA Consortium President, Dr. Taghi Farvar. His vision towards restoring ICCAs is about tribal communities deeply embedded in their ecological habitats; indigenous rights fully implemented by traditional institutions; local knowledge and land ethics adaptively applied; and collaborative livelihoods achieving common wellness for all living beings.