Rasul Rza
(1910-1981)
Rasul Rza (full name Rasul Ibrahim oghlu Rzayev) was a prominent Azerbaijani poet. He was born in Goychay on May 19, 1910. His real last name was Mammadkhanli. At age five (1915), he lost his father and was reared by an uncle whose first name was Rza. During the Soviet period, his father's name, meaning "khan" or "ruler", was closely associated with the bourgeoisie, which put him in great jeopardy. Despite these immense obstacles, he became one of the most prolific and dearly loved poets in Azerbaijan. He was the first Azerbaijani poet to use free verse in his poetry and was editor-in-chief of the first Azerbaijani translation of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia published in Baku. He studied in Moscow at the Institute of Nations and at the State Cinematographic Institute.
Rasul Rza was a Chairman of the Azerbaijan Writers" Union (1939), Minister of the Azerbaijan Cinematography (1945-1948) and Editor-in-Chief of the Azerbaijan Soviet Encyclopedia (1966-1975), etc. He was a Member of the USSR Writers" Council (1964). Rasul Rza wrote numerous lyrics, most of which were set to music. His poems have been translated into many languages in the Soviet Union and into German, French and Persian, as well as several Turkish languages. He is the author of over 30 books of poetry such as Poems (1959), Light on my Window (1962), Feelings, Thoughts (1964), Endurance (1965), Colours (1967), Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1973), Towards the Wind (1979) and others. He also translated Byron, Mayakovsky, Nekrasov, Pushkin, Heine, Lermontov, Blok, Shevchenko, Nazim Hikmat, Garcias Lorka and others works into Azerbaijani. He died in 1981 in Baku.
I Am Land
I am Land,
I can"t be burnt in the fire;
there is a coal and ash in my composition.
I am Spring,
I have flowers on meadows
and grasslands.
I am Wind.
if I don"'t blow
who will know me?
I am Cloud,
I will cry if I see
desert is thirsty.
I am Heart,
I will die if I don"t throb.
I am Human,
I will die if I am not proud of blessings
that created the ordinary people...
I am Light-
destroyer the darkness!
I am Human,
carrying in my soul joy and grief of worlds,
I am the eye showing interest
in everything,
I do look and see...
I am a River,
flowing from the snowy mountain,
I do run down...
I am Human,
having homeland and hamlet,
I have Language
being able to tell the great truth, freedom, love and hate...
I am Facet and it is so hard and strong
that you will feel it on each piece.
You can feel my strength in battles,
you can feel my frail in friendship...
I am Human-
I will die without intimacy,
I will die without love and hate,
I am Spring,
I don"t flow by order.
I am Life,
I am always on the road:
I am always in breath and wishes.
in looks, in hearts,
and in the hands...
I am Land,
I share my blessings and wealth
with toil folk.
I am Heart,
if I don"t beat
I will die.