Vazha-Pshavelaze
(scroll down for English translation)
Mtebi dardoben shens ts’asvlas
Mgosani natel pikrebad
Amboben vazhas sik’vdili
Sad tkmula rogor ikneba
Ra mok’lavs pikrsa natelsa
Azrsa mzesavit brts’qinvalis
Tavs rom mkhsnel parad elveba
K’avk’asionis mqinvarebs
Vin shedzlos navlad aktsios
Ts’igni simgherit nats’eri
Mze rom k’ashk’ashit danatis
Kartuli sibrdznis nateli
Vin gadatelos shelakhos
Sanatas ts’minda mandili
An sasik’vdilod dasakhvros
Aludas gulis ts’adili
Chargals dauch’k’nos mshveneba
Darials shekhsnas k’arebi
K’viria lachrad asakhos
Lelas dastkharos tvalebi
Vidre tsa mits’as dahqurebs
Ra dzala shedzlebs rakheli
Chvens guls most’atsos mohglijos
Vazha-pshavelas sakheli
Mtebi tav chachknianebi
P’iris mzis eshkhit kharoben
Nairnairi prinvelni
Mzis amosvlasa galoben
Shens gzas gastskeren mgosano
Nat’roben gnakhon tvalita
Sheni panduris prangulit
Sheni perit da dzalita
Ganakhlebuli samshoblo
Mudam siamit gigonebs
Damt’k’bari gulit dakharis
Bukhris ts’in nat’ser st’rikonebs
Mtats’mindav gulshi ikhut’ebs
Niavi charglis mdelosi
Sakveqnod sakhel gantkmulo
Mshvenebav sakartvelosi
Translation:
Vazha-Pshavela¹
Poet, The mountains grieve
Your transformation into light thoughts²
They say of the death of Vazha:
Where is this said, and how can this be?
What kills light thoughts
And ideas as brilliant as the sun?
They embrace the Caucasus glaciers
Like a savior’s shield
Who can possibly quell
A book written like a song,
The light of Georgian wisdom,
On which the sun shines bright.
Who can trample or abase
Sanata’s³ holy head-scarf
Who can spear to death
Aluda’s4️⃣ heart’s wish
Chargali’s5️⃣ devitalized beauty
Darial’s open doors6️⃣
Who can represent Kviria as a coward
Who can gouge out Lela’s eyes7️⃣
Until the sky looks down on the ground
No strength or hand can grab or steal
Vazha-Pshavela’s name
From our hearts
The helmeted mountains
Are happy to see the sun
Different birds
Are chanting for the sun rise
They are looking at roads you've passed, Poet
They wish to see you with their eyes
And your panduri’s French
And your colors and strengths8️⃣
The renewed homeland
Always remembers you with pleasure
He looks down with a sweetened heart
On the lines written in front of the hearth
Mtats’minda9 embraces in its heart
The breeze blown from Chargali’s fields
The celebrated and famous
Beauty of Georgia.
¹Luka Razikashvili (1861-1916) was one of Georgia’s most famous poets and writers. He wrote under the pen name Vazha-Pshavela, which literally means the "son from Pshavi." He was born and raised in the village of Chargali where a museum for him, opened in 1961, exists today.
²Your passing and going to Heaven.
³A character in Vazha-Pshavela's epic poem Bakhtrioni (1892).
4️⃣The hero from Vazha Pshavela's 1888 epic poem Aluda Ketelauri. Aluda was a Khevsur famous for his bravery and his warrior skills, but was expelled from his village after confessing his admiration for their historical enemy.
5️⃣The village in the Pshavi highland in northeastern Georgia where Vazha-Pshavela was born.
6️⃣Darial Pass in Mokhevi (1,450 meters) is one of the most important passes in the Caucaus. It is the historical pass in the central Caucasus that connects Vladikavkaz in Russia to Tbilisi, Georgia's capital.
7️⃣Kviria and Lela are also characters from Vazha-Pshavela's Bakhtrioni.
8️⃣The meaning behind these lines is that Vazha-Pshavela's writing was so full of the intense colors of nature, people desired to see his creations again, filled with colors, strength and musicality.
9️⃣Refers to the Mtatsminda Pantheon of Writers and Public Figures where Vazha-Pshavela is buried, located in the churchyard of Saint David's Church in Tbilisi on the slope of Mount Mtatsminda.
Izolda Namgalauri