White Butterfly

The sun is shining on a white butterfly,
You are too happy.
You are playing with a golden ray,
Riding the spring wind.
Now you are up in the sky,
Reaching towards the white clouds.
Now you are in the garden,
Sniffing the fresh flowers
In selecting the flowers, I see,
Your ambition is high.
The whole garden is yours,
Alight wherever you like.
You are playing with a red flower,
Which is like the sun.
The chrysanthemums are waiting for you,
And the snow-white peonies…
You are like spring, seeking only
The flowers in full bloom.
But you could never, oh butterfly,
Alight upon a golden leaf.

(originally published in 1974, translated by svetlana rimsky-korsakoff dyer)

source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iasyr_Shivaza

iasyr shivaza (1906-1988) was a famous dungan poet from nowadays kyrgyzstan > the dungans are a group of sinitic speakers > they fled to central asia after a failed revolt against the qing dynasty > unlike other sinitic groups, the dungans use cyrillic script since the 1940s, and not chinese characters, or xiao’erjing