23.06.2013 Views

A HISTORY OF INNER ASIA

A HISTORY OF INNER ASIA

A HISTORY OF INNER ASIA

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

252 A history of Inner Asia<br />

Thy hand holds the key to treasures of riches,<br />

In thy garden and desert a happy year’s song,<br />

Left and right thy gold and thy silk;<br />

How many the peoples enrapt in thy path,<br />

Thou art fruit and wine and water and cake,<br />

Thou art twin rivers of love,<br />

Thou, Uzbekistan.<br />

Thou art thine own machine builder, thine own livestock breeder,<br />

Thine own scholar, thine own cultural worker.<br />

Thou art volunteer soldier, noble guide,<br />

A storehouse of cotton priceless, without peer,<br />

Thy soul Lenin’s child forever,<br />

Thou, Uzbekistan!<br />

Like Aitmatov and Qodirov, Mirtemir was a member of the Communist<br />

Party, and like all of his compatriots who did not wish to become needless<br />

martyrs, he was paying the dues to the Caesar in Moscow and his<br />

deputies in Central Asia.The ritual reference to Lenin (and, in the case<br />

of an Uzbek, to cotton) was a standard means of evading the everpresent<br />

danger of the Inquisition.<br />

Here are a few excerpts from the Turkmen poem:<br />

Between the Oxus River and the Caspian, over the desert blows the<br />

Turkmen’s gale.<br />

The rose-bud, the black pupil of my eye – The Turkmen’s torrent<br />

descends from the black mountain.<br />

God has raised him and placed him under His shadow, his herds and<br />

flocks range over the steppe.<br />

Blossoms of many hues crowd his green summer pasture – the<br />

Turkmen’s steppe drowns in basil’s scent.<br />

His fair maidens appear clad in red and green, spreading their<br />

ambergris-like fragrance.<br />

Begs and elders are the lords of the land – guardians of the Turkmen’s<br />

beautiful homeland.<br />

He is a warrior’s son, a warrior was his father; Goroghli is his brother,<br />

inebriated are his senses;<br />

Should foes pursue him in mountains or plains – they could not take<br />

the Turkmen, the tiger’s son, alive.<br />

…Tribes are like brothers, clans are friends; their fate is not adverse,<br />

they are God’s rays.<br />

When warriors mount their horses, it is for battle – The Turkmen sets<br />

out against the foe!

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!