Poetry
Devoni Nihoniy
Not translated into English
Hamza Hakimzoda Niyoziy · 1914
Opening lines
Ё илоҳо, сангадур ҳамду сано,
Қодиро, ҳайю тавоно зулаъло.
Ҳам қадимсан, ҳам азал, лоязал,
Ворлиғингга йўқ сани ҳеч интиҳо.
O my God, to You belong praise and glory,
O Almighty, Ever-Living, Mighty, Most High.
You are the Ancient, without beginning or end,
Your being has no limit at all.
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from n.ziyouz.com
Synopsis
The first collection of a poet who then signed himself Nihoniy, the hidden one, put in order at the age of twenty-five. It consists mainly of ghazals, in the form and on the subjects of the old masters and of the poets of the previous century, whom the young man had been reading since childhood. Turkic predominates, with about ten pieces in Persian and two poems that mix Turkic and Russian words.
Context
This first collection was found in 1949 and appeared only after its author's death. The sources count one hundred and seventy-seven pieces, of which one hundred and sixty-five are in Uzbek, ten in Tajik and two mix Uzbek and Russian, or else one hundred and ninety-seven, and they date its composition differently. In the same years, its author was opening his schools; he would later turn to the theatre and to militant song. The collection appears in his complete works, published in Tashkent from 1988 to 1990.
Who it is for
In Uzbek, with a few poems in Persian, and no French version. A poetry of classical form, more difficult than the songs its author would write later. It is worth knowing that the aruz counts syllables by their length.
Prizes and reception
Its author, long celebrated by the Soviet regime, lost some of his standing after independence; this collection shows the classical poet he was at first.