Gennadiy Aygi

Gennadiy Aygi Poems

Gennadiy Aygi Biography

Gennadiy Nikolaevich Aygi (Russian: Генна́дий Никола́евич Айги́; IPA: [ɡʲɪˈnadʲɪj nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ ɐjˈɡʲi] ( listen), Chuvash: Геннадий Николаевич Айхи; 21 August 1934 – 21 February 2006 in Moscow) was a Chuvash poet and a translator. His poetry is written both in Chuvash and in Russian. He was born in the village of Shaimurzino (Çĕnyal), Chuvashia (USSR), moved to Moscow in 1953 and stayed there for the rest of his life. Aygi started writing poetry in the Chuvash language in 1958. Among the recognitions he has won are the Andrey Bely Prize (1987), the Pasternak Prize (2000, the first to be awarded this), the Prize of the French Academy (1972), the Petrarch Prize (1993), the Golden Wreath of the Struga Poetry Evenings in 1994 and the Jan Smrek Prize (Bratislava, Slovakia). Sofia Gubaidulina set several of his poems to music in her cycle Jetzt immer Schnee ("Now always snow"). His son Aleksey Aygi is a composer.)

The Best Poem Of Gennadiy Aygi

Evening in Denisova Gorka

Around our poles and posts
our gates and gardens —

everywhere — more and more — silence… —

oh, give us simple strength! —

strength — as the branch knocks against another branch
now — I place my mug on the table
sister closes the gate
the wind picks up again —

and like that we are home
the sun has set below the hills
around the garden posts —

offering
its small spark
to the deepening dusk

Translated by Sarah Valentine

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