Akbar Goshali, A Renowned Poet From Azerbaijan, The Land Of Fire Temple And Burning Mountain, Shares His Poems
The Mt Kenya Times 
Akbar Goshali
Born in 1973 in Gosha village of Tovuz region of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Akbar Goshali is the graduate of Azerbaijan Technical University (1995) and the Academy of Public Administration under the President of Azerbaijan (2001). From 1998 to 2013 he headed the World Union of Young Turkish Writers (WYWU). He is currently the Chairman of the DGTYB Advisory Board, the member of the Board of the Azerbaijan National NGO Forum, the Central Asia and South Caucasus Freedom of Expression Network (CASCFEN), the member of the Union of Azerbaijan Journalists, the member of the Union of Azerbaijan Writers (AWU) and the Deputy Chairman of the EBRD, the member of the Public Council and the Deputy Chairman of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan since July 2021.
Since September 18, 2020 he has been working as the expert of the Committee of Culture of the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan. In 1996-2000s he worked at the Ministry of Youth and Sports of the Republic of Azerbaijan. He continued his career as a scientific researcher in Ataturk Center in Azerbaijan which is under the honorary chairmanship of the President of Azerbaijan in 2006. In 2020 he was appointed the chief of the department.
He is the editor of films such as “The First Success of the Nobel Brothers” (2019), “Stalin’s Dark Past”, “100 Years of Glorious Life – Haji Zeynalabdin Taghiyev”, “Mistakes and Memories” which have been made by SSR Production and have won awards at many international festivals in 2021. Akber was the editor of “Turan” supplement of “Adalat” newspaper, “Ya Adabiyyat” supplement of “Yeni Azerbaijan” newspaper. He is the member of the editorial board of “Adabiyyat” newspaper and “Ulu Chinar” magazine. He is the Azerbaijani representative of such magazines and newspapers as “Kitab Dunyasi” published in Uzbekistan, “Yuce Erek”, “Akin”, “Kirkuk”, “Turk Yurdu” published in Turkey, as well. He was the fellow of the Presidential Scholarship Fund of Azerbaijan (in 2008-2009s for young writers).
DEAR SHUSHA!
(I dedicate this poem to our sons who fought to free Shusha)
Shusha
You are always dear to me!
Even if our feet do not touch you,
Even if our breath does not touch you,
Even if the flowers do not bloom in your lands
Even if the birds do not return to your sky
Even if water does not flow in your blind springs.
Dear Shusha!
Let other cities not be offended by me
Though all the cities of my country are dear to me
You are the dearest.
Dear Shusha!
I don’t say
We love you
As we love our mother
As we love our children.
But we love you
As we love the grass in your meadow
As we love the cloud in your sky
As we love the birds in your sky;
Dear Shusha,
We love you
As someone can love his motherland!
There are white clouds everywhere,
There are birds in every sky
There is much water everywhere
There are a lot of lands everywhere
But there is no Shusha anywhere…
Dear Shusha,
You don’t ask questions about the past,
Thank you!
You don’t reproach us,
Thank you!
Even though we left you,
You didn’t leave us.
Even though we didn’t live in your land,
You lived in our hearts, dear Shusha!
Dear Shusha,
How do the people fall in love with a city!
– I don’t know how to explain.
When we love we don’t ask how
When we love we don’t ask why
Love became a wing for faith,
Love became an oath and trust,
Love became a way,
Love brought us to you
Like flood through the valleys,
Like wind through the hills.
The road leading to you
Starts from our hearts;
A divine writing
Starts from our destiny.
The roads led us to you;
The roads don’t end with you –
The roads which lead to Zengezur.
Goyche,
Irevan
Are seen from you, Shusha!
Put your hand on my heart,
Look, how it is beating!
GARABAGH
What will change
If your mountains aren’t high,
If your fields aren’t straight
If your valleys aren’t wide
If your clouds aren’t round
If you gazelles and roes don’t look as a man?
I love you own,
You are my Garabagh,
You are my black and white!
You are bigger than yourself,
You are bigger than my word,
Your voice is more important than my words,
Garabagh!
Garabagh,
You are my destiny,
What else can I write on a piece of white paper
With this black pen?
I know only one thing:
Until I don’t be with you,
My height will be short
My shoulders will be crooked
My tongue will be tiny,
I will be guilty.
In short
I will be invalid…
This isn’t life –
God will ask us tomorrow,
Oh man,
Did I create you as you are now?
I DEDICATE THIS POEM TO MY FRIEND AND BROTHER YOLCHU
One day
Of course, one day
All that exist won’t exist,
All that don’t exist will exist.
Neither we shot
Nor we were shot;
If there is no way for a young death
I can’t call it life.
In the end
All that exist won’t exist,
All that don’t exist will exist.
Neither we shot
Nor we were shot;
I called the death life
In the end
All lives lead to death…
Everybody is taken to the other world
By an army of the people.
Though we can take nothing from this world
A poet takes a bullet to the other world.
ALL WHO LIVE IN THE DORMITORY
All who live in the dormitory
Will move, at least to the grave…
A tent, at least a black tent is built
For all who move from one place to another
All who die will be buried, at least.
All who live will move,
At least to the hell.
Almost I would say, “at least” again…
At least, let me finish this poem…
I AM IN A DILEMMA AGAIN
I’m in a dilemma again,
I don’t think about myself,
My mother has bad dreams
She is far away from me…
I’m in a dilemma again,
I don’t think about myself,
When my father put his bumpy hands
On his forehead
Everybody feels
The fear of this posture.
I’m in a dilemma again,
I don’t think about myself,
My sister wakes up
She prays for me.
I’m in a dilemma again,
I don’t think about myself,
Probably my brother irritates everybody
Everything turns upside down.
I’m in a dilemma again,
I don’t think about myself,
I look at the cradle
I look at a sweet sleeping baby.
Her mother scolds me:
– I told you hundred times
Don’t look at the baby’s face
While she sleeps.
Look at my face,
Look at my face!
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