Contemporary Azerbaijani Poetry Jabir Novruz Poems

Contemporary Azerbaijani Poetry Jabir Novruz



 Jabir Novruz
(1933–2002)

Jabir Novruz (full name Jabir Mirzabay oghlu Novruzov), was a popular Azerbaijani poet. He was born on June 12, 1933, in the Khizi district. After completing secondary school, he studied at the Secondary School named after M.A. Sabir.  In 1952 he entered the Journalism Department at Azerbaijan State University. A year later he was sent to Moscow to the Literature Institute named after M. Gorky to continue his studies based upon the advice of the Writers’ Union of Azerbaijan. He graduated in 1957. Jabir Novruz died in Baku on December 12, 2002.  Many of his works have been translated and published. There are 128 songs based on his poems such as My Azerbaijan, The Girls of Baku, My Fate, The Mountains I have Leaned Upon, I Saw You, My Mother is Growing Older, Life, How Strange You Are, Hurry Up, Men, My Youth, Value the People While They’re Alive,  among others.


Love
     (song)

Love!
That made the World and Universe,
the universal wish to guess.
Oh, Human creation, Love,
And Love created us.
Love – the first letter of life.
Love – the first song and first word.

Love, we don’t know where and why.
Love we can’t compel or fly.
Love we often weep
seldom keep.
What is that light
I see flashing so clear?
It may be a star in every life,
it crashes like thunder and then disappears.
It may come secretly, but speaks openly.
Love, the breath and blood in my body.
Love, either alive or dead.

Love is the ocean’s waves.
Love is the diamond on a ring.
Love is the weather in my head.
Love is real, Love is earnest,
Love is life, love is a dream
where things are not what they appear to be.

How Can You Live Without Love?

Everybody is indifferent, like a stone,
hearts become colder and colder, like snow.
Love has disappeared and turned into legend.

A despot is the judge, that’s why you see blood.
How do we live without love, my God?

The only way to be saved is to love.
The only way to be alive again is to love.
A love that never dies.
The whole of mankind is born with love.
My God! How do we live without love?

When Majnun and Leyli  loved each other
their love turned into legend and tale.
Without love mankind can’t exist.
The world would be empty and pale,
My God! How can we live without love?

A motherland without love is simply soil
and sand - love is the human who dies for his land.
You fight for land.  You die if you’re brave.
The love for your mother, love for your land,
this is much stronger than death.
O, Jabir, how can we live without love?
 
The War Will Be Over

Time will pass, a day will come,
when this bloody war will be over.
We will drive out of our land
the intruder and the invader.
We will win back,
Shusha and Aghdam,
Kalbajar and Lachin.
We will clear
the rotten air over “Isa spring” .
A day will come when the war will be over.
Its pains will hurt us forever.  How
have the poor mothers endured,
longing for their lost sons.
She is fated to suffer,
the war gave her a lifetime’s mourning.
A day will come,
when the war will be over.
But it will not be easy,
to recover from its ruins.
Who is charged to take care of,
to love and rear for,
the millions of orphans?
A day will come,
when the war will be over.
How will a beloved,
stand the loss of her lover?
A day will come,
when the war will be over.
It will leave an ever-lasting sore
in our hearts that will ache over and over.
A day will come,
when the war will be over.
But the graves of our martyrs
will not disappear,
they will warn us to be aware,
to learn to be sharper,
to know our foe inside and out.
A day will come,
when the war will be over.
But its pain
will make itself felt over and over.

Time will pass, a day will come,
when this bloody war will be over.
I have faith that we will win
I am asking this over and over -
Who will persevere? 
Prove themselves right,
the betrayer?
I am asking you over and over.
How will he return back to his town?
He, who left it undefended – the deserter?
I am asking over and over - 
How will he justify his actions,
the ignoble deserter and dealer
of the motherland?
A day will come,
when the war will be over.
Its pains will lessen
but there will be no end
to the blame and reproaches…
Translated by Kamran Nazirli