Peder Khuzanday (1907 – 1970) Poet. National Poet of the Chuvash ASSR (1950), Laureate of the State Prize of the Chuvash ASSR named after Konstantin Ivanov (1967):
I first read Tukay in translation made by Pavel Radimov. However, the poem “The Poet” translated into the Chuvash language influenced me much deeper. This poem translated by our poet S.Cheges was published in the early 20s. I still remember this poem by heart, almost word for word. The last two lines of this masterpiece sound like the humanistic and powerful accord in my soul:
“We will leave, but you will stay!” –
I will sing,
When my body is buried
in my funerals
(Word-for-word translation)
Broadening my mind, enlarging the sense of creativity, this optimism, victory of life over death, defined my place in the life.
Tukay’s call sounds with all the power: “Let the national literature live, let the mother tongue live!..”