Gafur Gulyam, "You are not an orphan"

Uzbek and Russian Children

Gafur Gulyam 

"You are not an orphan". 

Are you an orphan? .. 

Calm down, dear! 

Like a good sun, bending over you, 

Mother's, full of deep love, 

A big country protects your childhood.

Here you are at home. Here I guard your peace. 

Sleep, a piece of my soul, my little one!

I am a father! I will give you what you want, Become my happiness. 

All my worries ... 

The day of the great war is a day of endurance, 

If your father is alive, a restless shadow 

Let him not touch him in the midst of thunder and fire, 

Let him know that his son is growing with me! 

If your father died, be strong, do not grieve. 

Sleep my boy, my white lamb sleep. 

I am a father! I will give you what you want, 

All your worries will become my happiness. 

What is orphanhood - ask me. 

As a five-year-old kid in the tenth year, 

I warmed my hands by someone else's fire. 

Half naked, dragged along the roads need. 

Oh, how bitter is dry alms bread! 

O, how hard are the steps of someone else's porch! 

Looking for shelter, I was blind from grief, And no one stroked my face ... 

I experienced what it means to grow up as an orphan, 

Are you an orphan? 

Sleep well dear ...

Until the old hunter - a wandering dream - Threw a magic net over me, Proud of joy - full of my father's feelings, 

I'll sit over your bed, Over your head, your fair hair, dear, 

And look at you, and protect your peace ... ... 

Why did you tremble? 

Where does the fear come from? 

Maybe the grief of Odessa flooded suddenly? 

Or is the tragedy of Kerch? 

And in a child's mind, Rumbling in the blazing darkness, 

Bloodthirsty barbarians, those who were destroying All living things, almost killed you, rumbling in the blazing darkness! 

Maybe the body of your beloved mother, 

With naked wounds instead of breasts, And her hands with a fine impetuous wave Imprinted in the sad eyes of children? 

I will remember those sad eyes, When I go out to battle to smash the executioners. 

For a childish gaze, 

That was overshadowed by a tear, 

For a ruined house, for the shame of mothers - I will punish terribly two-legged animals, 

This Hitler is a bastard who did not know his father, - He is not a mother - he was born a vile hyena, Dull renegade with eunuch eyes - How can he feel the price of childhood? 

This Hitler is a brown dung beetle, 

Carnivorous dull mustache stirring, Wanted his destined circle At will, the earth changed him.

For people without shelter to wander around the world, 

For children to die without the caress of people, 

But the earth can no longer bear it. 

Sleep well, my son, the night will end soon! 

Sleep well, my son ... In our big house Soon the morning will bloom. 

And again outside the window Golden tulips of lightning will bloom, 

In our book a brownie without counting pages. 

The book will be remembered for all time. 

She will keep your name forever! You smile, and the smile is light. 

Not for the first time in long long days 

On an emaciated face, she blossomed, Like a violet on the melting snow of spring? 

And the chilled expanse as if immediately warmed the Half-asleep smile with a sudden ray. 

It's dawn soon, It's white dawn. 

It's a white dawn over my shoulder.

Translation from Uzbek by Anna Akhmatova