A. Fainberg and N. Ilyin

At the end of the book's section «Поэты Узбекистана» are two poems by Nikolai Dmitrievich Ilyin (no biography). The first is «Весёлые праздники детства…». Each stanza ends with the rhetorical question «Что может быть лучше…»: the merry festivals of childhood and loyalty to young friends, neighbourhood, a pattern of golden leaves, flowers by every house, the city, the people who came to love you. The last stanza: the unfading ray of childhood caresses the silver at the temples; “what is simpler and better than repaying good with good?” The second poem, «В далёкой прозрачности горы…», addresses the city. Far off, the mountains are transparent, near by is the river; the poet says: “I shall remain forever, my city, a shoot of your flower garden”, “a chord of your harmonies”, “a moment of your infinity”. The city is dear to him for its sunlight and its simple-hearted warmth. Devices: rhetorical question, anaphora («Что может быть лучше…», «Я вечно останусь»), address, metaphor («росток цветника», «аккорд созвучий», «мгновенье бесконечности»). Idea: love of the native city and people is bound up with childhood memory and kindness.