“Poetry.com”, a leading USA literary portal, has posted in English the poem “Violets” by Molla Panah Vagif, the prominent poet of Azerbaijan, as part of the AzSTC project “Azerbaijan Literature in an International Virtual World”.

The author of the translation of the poem presented with information about the poet’s creativity is Tom Botting, the well-known translator.

It is worth noting that the literature portal “Poetry.com”, which has a wide auditorium of readers, regularly publishes works by such outstanding writers and poets as William Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe, Friedrich Schiller, Emily Dickinson, Jane Austen, Pablo Neruda, just to name a few.

Molla Panah Vagif

(1717–1797)

·        the outstanding Azerbaijani poet, political and public figure of the 18th century;

·        served as a chief vizier in the palace of Karabakh Khan;

·        the founder of the realism genre in Azerbaijani poetry;

·        the author of several works in the genres of goshma, tajnis, ghazal, mukhammas, and mustazad;

·        his works have been translated into very many languages of the world;

·        on January 12, 2017, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed an order “On celebration of the 300th anniversary of the great Azerbaijani poet Molla Panah Vagif”. The Name of Molla Panah Vagif was included in the “Program for Celebration of Anniversaries of Prominent Personalities and Significant Events for the Period of 2016-2017” of UNESCO.

Her face and features, rose and tulip tinted,

Were framed in sable locks. She gathered violets.

How well the colours blend with eagle features,

When on her creamy breast there nestle violets!

Her body carved from marble, locks of black

And silky waves, can steal your heart, alack!

And like Medjnun, you shall not get it back,

She’ll pin it to her breast mid purple violets.

At eighteen summers she has just begun

To count the many hearts that she has won.

O’er hills she walks in beauty shared by none.

Mid rustling leaves and fragrant whispering violets.

Display your limbs and body, warm and nude,

But never let my rival’s glance intrude,

Nor tolerate his touches harsh and crude. . .

Unworthy hands should never pluck sweet violets.

When one beholds her scintillating grace

The blood like wine makes heart-beats throb apace.

And when Vagif composes verses to her face

The first and final words should be sweet violets.

https://www.poetry.com/poem/187800/her-face-and-features,-rose-and-tulip-tinted%E2%80%A6