L'STATELESS
SAIP JUSUF
How is it possible,
for years on this land,
I was born, raised,
Became a boulder.
Its too much! How many days and nights...
On the road for years.
I will die, in the consuming flame
no one is like us.
In many countries bound to each other
they reject us.
A Macedonian intellectual, Saip is the author of one of the first grammar books for the Romanì language; furthermore he contributed to the organisation of the world’s first Romani conference in London. He chose to convert from Islam to the original Hindu rites, formerly followed by his people before their departure from the sub-continent.
Translated by Katie Hepworth