G‘afur G‘ulom: “Sog‘inish” and “Vaqt”

“Sog‘inish” was written in 1942: it depicts the state of mind of a father waiting for his son who has gone to war. The father asks the sun for news, thinks his son is coming when dust rises, and at the evening meal feels his absence. At times doubt overcomes him, but he does not lose hope: he believes that those who started the war will meet their own end, and that his son will return safe. To calm his longing he reads Bedil’s verse: according to the textbook, Bedil’s philosophical depth urges one to think above passing worries. The father dreams of picking peaches into a full basket when his son returns, and tells him to keep the garden as a heritage and to plant the seed of hope together. The textbook judges this image to be the general portrait of the “Uzbek father”. “Vaqt” was written in 1945 on the occasion of victory, a philosophical poem which glorifies the value of one moment. The butterfly’s life is compared with the time it takes a bud to open, and a moment with the possibility of making the world anew. It recalls that three seconds were enough to sign the surrender document of the fascists: that short time decided humanity’s valuable future. Mentioning Herostratus, the poet says there are two roads to fame: leaving a shameful name by destruction, or adding to the happiness of the many. He calls: let us raise a monument for every moment.