T in a gashina. From a birch peg. Here is the train. Blazed with bright light

Childhood

Margarita Agashina was born in the village of Bor, Yaroslavl Region. The childhood of the poetess was spent at the Strelka trading post in the north of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. The poet's father was a doctor by profession. By the nature of his activity, he had to roam the taiga along with Evenk hunters. Margarita's mother taught Evenki children at school. Subsequently, Margarita Agashina recalled her childhood like this:

In the early 1930s, the Agashins family moved to the city of Teikovo, Ivanovo Region. Margarita Agashina studied at the Teykovskaya secondary school No. 4, which she graduated in 1942 (a memorial plaque is now installed on the school building).

University education

After leaving school, Margarita Agashina entered the Moscow Institute of Non-Ferrous Metals and Gold, but, without completing her second year, she left for the Literary Institute. Gorky. Studied at seminars with Vera Zvyagintseva and Vladimir Lugovsky. She graduated from the Literary Institute in 1950.

Volgograd

Since 1951, after graduating from the institute, Margarita Agashina lived in Volgograd. Here she lived until the end of her life, devoting the main part of her work to the city on the Volga, which became truly native to her.

In 1952, for the poem "My Word" Margarita Agashina was admitted to the Writers' Union. Real fame came to Margarita Agashina after Lyudmila Zykina performed the song “A Birch Grows in Volgograd” based on her poems.

In 1993, "for outstanding services in the field of literature, a significant creative contribution, recognized by Volgograd residents and all of Russia," Margarita Konstantinovna Agashina was awarded the title of "Honorary Citizen of the Hero City of Volgograd" by the decision of the Volgograd City Council of People's Deputies.

Margarita Agashina died in 1999 at the age of 75.

Creation

She has been published as a poet since 1949.

The main part of the poetess's work is devoted to Volgograd, its glorious history. She once wrote:

Collections

In total, the poetess published 36 collections of poems in the publishing houses of Moscow and Volgograd. Many poems were set to music and became famous songs.

All collections of Margarita Agashina in chronological order:

My word. - M.: Young Guard. - 1953.
Dream. Indian summer. - M.: Young Guard. - 1952. - No. 5.
Our Alyonushka. - Stalingrad: Prince. publishing house - 1953.
Poems. - Literary Stalingrad. - 1954. - Prince. 8.
In a new house. - Change. - 1953. - No. 11.
Garden on Peace Street. - Literary newspaper. - 1954, June 1.
Interesting game. - Stalingrad: Prince. publishing house - 1955.
Varya. - October. - 1955. - No. 6.
Indian summer. - Stalingrad: Prince. publishing house - 1956.
Yurka. Actress. - Neva. - 1956. - No. 10.
Five-six. - Stalingrad: Prince. publishing house - 1957.
Forty herbs. - M.: Sov. Writer. - 1959.
Alyonushka has business. - M.: Detgiz. - 1959.
I love you Korea! - Stalingrad: Prince. publishing house - 1961.
Poems about my soldier. - Volgograd: Lower Volga book. publishing house - 1963.
Song. - Volga. - 1966. - No. 6.
Fire. (A little story about a big dream...). - Volgograd: Lower Volga book. publishing house - 1967.
Volzhanochka. - Volga. - 1967. - No. 12.
Not just a woman lives. - M.: Sov. Russia. - 1968.
Poems. - In the book: Day of the Volga Poetry. - Saratov: Volga Prince. publishing house - 1969.
Selected lyrics. - M.: Young Guard. - 1969.
Late August came without looking back. - In the book: Palms smelling of bread. - Volgograd: Lower Volga book. publishing house - 1971.
Hen-party. - Volgograd: Lower Volga book. publishing house - 1972.
Where were you before? - Our contemporary. - 1973. - No. 8.
Songs. - M.: Sov. Russia. - 1974.
New verses. - In the world of books. - 1974. - No. 3.
Handkerchief. - M.: Sovremennik. - 1975.
Poems. - In the book: Russian Soviet poetry. - T. 2. - M. - 1977.
Bread of the Volga region. - Literary newspaper. - 1978. - No. 30.
Children of Volgograd. - Volgograd: Lower Volga book. publishing house - 1980.
Poems about my soldier. - In the book: Road to Victory: Poems of Soviet poets about the Great Patriotic War. - M. - 1980.
Hen-party. - M.: Sovremennik. - 1983.
Birch in every song. - Volgograd: Lower Volga book. publishing house - 1984.
What was, was ... - Volgograd: Lower Volga book. publishing house - 1985.
Favorites. - M.: Fiction. - 1986.
Poems. - Volgograd: Village. - 1993.

Songs on verses by Agashina

Where can I get such a song (Grigory Ponomarenko)
Woman's share (Grigory Ponomarenko)
Blue scarf (Grigory Ponomarenko)
Song about a soldier (Vladimir Migulya)
Song about my soldier (Evgeny Zharkovsky)
Give me a handkerchief (Grigory Ponomarenko)
Tell me, friend (Evgeny Ptichkin)
Volgograd tango (Mikhail Chuev)
What was, was (Grigory Ponomarenko)
A birch grows in Volgograd (Grigory Ponomarenko)

Social work

Member of the Union of Writers of the USSR (1949).

Political activity

Deputy of the City Council of Working People's Deputies (1957-1959; 1967-1969)
Deputy of the District Council of Working People's Deputies (1963-1965)
Deputy of the Regional Council of Workers' Deputies (1971-1975)

Awards

Order of the Red Banner of Labor
Order of the Badge of Honor
Honorary Diploma of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR (1974)
first laureate of the All-Russian Literary Prize "Stalingrad", established by the Writers' Union of Russia, the Volgograd Regional Administration and the Volgograd Writers' Organization (1996)
Honorary citizen of Volgograd (October 19, 1993)

Agashina Margarita Konstantinovna (1924 - 1999). Famous Russian poetess. She was born on February 29, 1924 in the village of Bor, Yaroslavl Region. She spent her childhood in the city of Teikovo, Ivanovo Region, where she studied at secondary school No. 4. She graduated from the Literary Institute in 1950. From 1951 she lived in Volgograd.

Author of numerous collections of poems and books for children, including such well-known ones as “Not just a woman lives”, “Birch grows in Volgograd”, “Handkerchief”, “Poems about my soldier”, “Forty herbs”, “Indian summer” , “Alyonushka has things to do” and many others. other.

She was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, the Order of the Badge of Honor; Laureate of the Stalingrad Prize.

The main part of Margarita Konstantinovna's work is devoted to Volgograd, its glorious history.

The title of "Honorary Citizen of the City - the Hero of Volgograd" was awarded to Margarita Konstantinovna Agashina by the decision of the Volgograd City Council of People's Deputies of October 19, 1993 for outstanding services in the field of literature, a significant creative contribution, which was recognized by Volgograd residents and all of Russia.

The childhood and youth of M. Agashina were held in the city of Teikovo, Ivanovo Region, starting in 1936. Her autobiography will tell us about life in early childhood:

“The house in Yaroslavl where I was born stood on the left bank of the Volga. In one of the springs, the river overflowed so much that boats came into our yard, geese swam. As a child, I also lived in the Penza region, in the village of Verkhozim. Behind the village river Karada, the first collective farm was created. Our favorite song was “We walked under the roar of cannonade”. Favorite game - "Twelve sticks". My favorite thing is to go to the forest and meadows across the river, where there was a lot of everything that is impossible to forget! Forget-me-not - so the whole coast. Strawberries - so whole glades! Mushrooms - you won’t pass like that: families are oiled in a rut, it’s a pity to crush. And - also in families - snowdrops on fluffy gray legs. Then we lived in the north of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, at the Strelka trading post. My father is a doctor, he wandered along with the Evenks - hunters: in winter - on reindeer sleds, in summer - on horseback. Mom taught Evenki children at the school, which was recently opened. There on Strelka I learned to “pick sulfur from larches” (we chewed it), searched for chipmunk holes full of sweet lingonberries, put chopping blocks on stoats. People on the Strelka lived simply and amicably, worked hard, gathered all together for the holidays on May 1, November 7, on Red Army Day. Many years later. But I remember everything and know for sure that there, on the Strelka, for the first time I was happy because everyone was together!”

Margarita was 12 when their family moved to Teikovo. Father Konstantin Stepanovich was a surgeon in the 2nd city hospital. Mother Elizaveta Ivanovna taught the children the German language at the then new secondary school No. 4, where she came with her daughters Kaleria and Margarita, students of the 5th and 4th grades. In Teykovo, their son Felix was born in their family.

At school, everyone admired neatly dressed, modest blond girls with ironed ribbons in braids and red ties. Attracted by their politeness, respect for others, sociability and seriousness. Soon they became exemplary students, active social activists, pioneer leaders in the elementary grades. Margarita was very energetic, lively, persistent in any business. Participated in holding evenings, disputes, competitions, various trips and excursions. She loved all public affairs, had many friends and girlfriends. Rita studied only at 5, in everything she was an example for the guys.

She also loved poetry very much, wrote interesting literary compositions, which her teacher Marfa Stepanovna Chesnokova was proud of. Often Rita was noticed thoughtful, dreamy, her head bowed to one side. In those moments, her poems were born, which were printed by both the local Bolshevik Tribune and the regional newspaper Always Ready. Margarita's first poem was "My little sister", which was soon published in the local newspaper. Rita performed at reading competitions at school, in the city, and at the regional one she received a diploma for her own poem “I Will Answer”.

1938 - 1939 academic year. Grade 7 with teachers (6th from the bottom left - Margarita Agashina)

A drama club was created at the school, led by Margarita Agashina's mother, Elizaveta Ivanovna. It was the core of a team of capable guys, around which others united. V. Izosimov, M. Alfeeva, L. Umnikova, sisters Agashina, G. Lipin, A. Ofitserova, V. Pariyskiy turned out to be especially gifted. Kruzhkovites performed not only on the school stage, but also in urban and rural clubs. Paid productions strengthened the material base: this is how musical instruments were acquired for their orchestra. Performances of young actors at school were an unforgettable holiday.

The friendship grew stronger every day. A love for the performing arts was born, which many dreamed of serving. But the plans of graduates, like all Soviet people, were crossed out by the Great Patriotic War. In her autobiography, Margarita Konstantinovna wrote about this as follows: “I saw the first grief in my life when I was almost an adult, sixteen years old, when the war began. First we saw off the father and teachers, then classmates. We worked on a collective farm and a hospital, sawed wood, were donors and went to school. It was already in the city of Teikovo, Ivanovo region. There I graduated from high school. In grief, people were also together. And if it were not so, then I would have written completely different poems.”

With the outbreak of war, Margarita's business and worries increased: she took on the duties of the Komsomol organizer of the school. She organized the seeing off of volunteers to the front, assistance to the sanitary guards, duty in the hospital, work in logging and peat extraction, assistance to the collective farm in drying hay and harvesting vegetables. Rita helped collect parcels for the front, write letters, prepared concerts for the wounded. On August 31, 1941, in the regional newspaper “Bolshevik Tribune”, a note was published by the secretary of the Komsomol committee of secondary school No. 4, Rita Agashina, “We are confidently striding into life”. The article said:

“Everything for the front” - with this slogan in their hearts, the Komsomol members of our school work in the hot days of the Great Patriotic War

August 17 - All-Union Komsomol Sunday. Several teams of students worked in the forest sawing logs. They returned home in the evening. The battle song did not stop for a long time:

For eternal peace in the last battle

The steel squadron flies

We firmly know that a lot more endurance and steadfastness will be required, readiness for serious sacrifices will be required, but we believe in the future - bloody fascism will be defeated!”

But the Motherland called to where it was difficult. One by one, the guys who served as tankers, pilots, sailors, and scouts left. Many were squad, platoon, and company commanders. The girls served as nurses, orderlies, signalmen, typists and even drivers. Komsomol members fought on different fronts, but kept in touch with the school, teachers and comrades. Everyone kept a poetic memo of Rita at their hearts:

In a cold dugout, a snowy field,

In study, combat, intense struggle

You remember Teikov, remember the school,

And it will become warmer and easier for you.

Poems helped to overcome the difficulties of military service, reach the Victory, remember fallen friends and work for oneself and the one who died in battle. Rescued by the memory of school friendship, communication with teachers E. I. Agashina, M. V. Kiseleva, F. I. Antipova, meetings with Margarita, who traveled a lot around the country as a poetess.

After graduating from school, Margarita Agashina entered the Moscow Institute of Non-Ferrous Metals and Gold. But soon the girl realized that it was not her and, without even finishing her second year, in 1945 she went to the institute of her dreams - the Gorky Literary Institute. And there Paustovsky, Lev Kassil, Fedin - her idols, who became her teachers.

In the post-war Literary Institute, a little more than a hundred people studied at the same time in all five courses. That is, everyone knew each other well. The guys were mostly from the front, from schools - a few. There are very few girls. Most of all, two young girls who always stuck together stood out among them - these are Inna Goff and Margarita Agashina. Both wrote poetry. True, Inna had already switched to prose - from Svetlov's seminar to Paustovsky. Evenings and skits flourished at the institute. The walls themselves were literally saturated with poems, parodies, ditties. And girlfriends also had a hand in all this. Here is one of their collective ditties:

student life -

Occupation, hunger, darkness.

Fundamentals of Leninism

They do not climb on an empty stomach.

Wow! "Fundamentals of Leninism" was the title of Stalin's main book. No, they were ideologically correct girls and were not going to oppose the regime. They simply composed fables about their life - being, not thinking about the consequences. But for such a thing it was possible to get oh what a time! But it's good that nothing happened. Either no one “knocked”, or they were simply pitied. Inna and Margarita remained the closest friends for life, which does not happen so often. They had an amazing, unrelenting need to communicate with each other. After graduating from the institute, they often met, walked for a long time, reminisced about themselves, their youth, and comrades.

Margarita's further life path is simple and clear: she got married, in 1951 she came to Volgograd, and since then it has been her beloved and hometown. Here her children grew up, here she found true friends. It is no coincidence that in one of her poems she wrote:

I love you as a person, my holiday is my city, Volgograd!

It was here, in Volgograd, that she published her first work, the poem “My Word”, a monologue of a mother condemning the war:

Let it rush, this word,

Over hundreds of mountains, over thousands of seas.

Its in all parts and countries of the world

Will be heard by millions of mothers.

We don't want to be on the battlefield

Thousands of fighters marched again,

To make the blue sky black,

To leave children without fathers

For this poem, Margarita Agashina was admitted to the Writers' Union. Subsequently, she published 36 collections of poems. Many of them were set to music, becoming popular songs. One of these is “A Birch Grows in Volgograd”, which was performed throughout the country by the famous Lyudmila Zykina.

You were also born in Russia, a land of fields and forests.

In every song we have birch, birch under every window.

On every spring glade their white live round dance.

But there is a birch in Volgograd - you will see, and your heart will stop.

She was brought from afar to the regions where the feather grasses are noisy.

How difficult it was for her to get used to the fire of the Volgograd land, for how long she yearned for the bright forests in Russia - the guys lie under the birch - ask them about it.

The grass under the birch is not crumpled - no one got up from the ground.

But how a soldier needs it, for someone to grieve over him.

And he cried - lightly, like a bride, and remembered - forever, like a mother!

You, too, were born a soldier - don't you understand that

You were also born in Russia - a birch, sweet land.

Now, wherever you meet a birch, you will remember my birch, its silent branches, its patient sadness.

A birch grows in Volgograd!

Try to forget her.

After the premiere of the song, Margarita Konstantinovna from all over the country began to receive letters of thanks with a laconic address “Volgograd, M. Agashina”.

The most famous poems by Margarita Agashina were: “To the Soldier of Stalingrad”, “Crossroads”, “Evening”, “Son”, “Bachelorette Party”, etc.

She knew how to make friends with her readers, and the workers of Metallurgstroy enjoyed her special love: “Who would know how glad I am, I value the invitation, I put on everything that is more fashionable, once a year I put on a manicure.”

Agashina was abroad, where with great attention they listened to the rhythm of her poetic lines. She is a subtle lyrical poet: “I’ll go up to the beautiful mountain ash, put my hand on her branch, for what sole reason I’m sad today, I’ll tell you.” Her lyrics are soft, sincere and tender: "A person becomes happier if he sees: the cherry has blossomed." “I’ll go out to the river, crack with a thin branch, break the tight thread. It is always sad in autumn, even if there is nothing to be sad about!”

But the pinnacle of her work is civil lyrics, highly patriotic and sublime: “Here we are, as we once were, taking a handful of Stalingrad land. We won, guys, we reached Berlin”, “A hundred years will pass and a hundred snowstorms, and we are all indebted to them. February-February, soldier's month. Carnations are burning in the snow.”

Decisive in the life of Margarita Agashina was her meeting with Grigory Ponomarenko. It was in 1963 in Volgograd. The composer was surprised at the simplicity and spiritual charm of Margarita's poems. The songs “What was, it was”, “A birch grows in Volgograd”, “Give me a handkerchief” became public property, gained popular love. Then Ponomarenko moved from Volgograd. Agashina even wrote poems “Don't leave, Ponomarenko”. But he left, and their new songs stopped appearing.

Now Margarita Konstantinovna Agashina is not with us. She passed away on August 4, 1999. But our country remembers the faithful, talented daughter of Russia, her work and contribution to literature are highly appreciated. She has awards: the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, the medal “For Valiant Labor”, was awarded the Gorky State Prize, was awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of Volgograd, a street in Volgograd was named after her, and a memorial plaque was installed on the house in which she lived. On November 11, 2006, a memorial plaque in honor of the memory of the great poetess was also installed at the native school of M. Agashina - school No. 4 in Teikovo.

But the highest reward for her was and remains people's love and admiration for her work. Together with the poems and immortal songs of Margarita Agashina, she continues to beat with us, like a living, kind heart open to people.

Childhood

University education

After leaving school, Margarita Agashina entered the Moscow Institute of Non-Ferrous Metals and Gold, but, without completing her second year, she left for the Literary Institute. Gorky. She studied at seminars with Vera Zvyagintseva and Vladimir Lugovsky. She graduated from the Literary Institute in 1950.

Volgograd

Margarita Agashina died in 1999 at the age of 75.

Creation

She has been published as a poet since 1949.

The main part of the poetess's work is devoted to Volgograd, its glorious history. She once wrote:

Collections

In total, the poetess published 36 collections of poems in the publishing houses of Moscow and Volgograd. Many poems were set to music and became famous songs.

All collections of Margarita Agashina in chronological order:

My word. - M.: Young Guard. - 1953.
Dream. Indian summer. - M.: Young Guard. - 1952. - No. 5.
Our Alyonushka. - Stalingrad: Prince. publishing house - 1953.
Poems. - Literary Stalingrad. - 1954. - Prince. 8.
In a new house. - Change. - 1953. - No. 11.
Garden on Peace Street. - Literary newspaper. - 1954, June 1.
Interesting game. - Stalingrad: Prince. publishing house - 1955.
Varya. - October. - 1955. - No. 6.
Indian summer. - Stalingrad: Prince. publishing house - 1956.
Yurka. Actress. - Neva. - 1956. - No. 10.
Five-six. - Stalingrad: Prince. publishing house - 1957.
Forty herbs. - M.: Sov. Writer. - 1959.
Alyonushka has business. - M.: Detgiz. - 1959.
I love you Korea! - Stalingrad: Prince. publishing house - 1961.
Poems about my soldier. - Volgograd: Lower Volga book. publishing house - 1963.
Song. - Volga. - 1966. - No. 6.
Fire. (A little story about a big dream...). - Volgograd: Lower Volga book. publishing house - 1967.
Volzhanochka. - Volga. - 1967. - No. 12.
Not just a woman lives. - M.: Sov. Russia. - 1968.
Poems. - In the book: Day of the Volga Poetry. - Saratov: Volga Prince. publishing house - 1969.
Selected lyrics. - M.: Young Guard. - 1969.
Late August came without looking back. - In the book: Palms smelling of bread. - Volgograd: Lower Volga book. publishing house - 1971.
Hen-party. - Volgograd: Lower Volga book. publishing house - 1972.
Where were you before? - Our contemporary. - 1973. - No. 8.
Songs. - M.: Sov. Russia. - 1974.
New verses. - In the world of books. - 1974. - No. 3.
Handkerchief. - M.: Sovremennik. - 1975.
Poems. - In the book: Russian Soviet poetry. - T. 2. - M. - 1977.
Bread of the Volga region. - Literary newspaper. - 1978. - No. 30.
Children of Volgograd. - Volgograd: Lower Volga book. publishing house - 1980.
Poems about my soldier. - In the book: Road to Victory: Poems of Soviet poets about the Great Patriotic War. - M. - 1980.
Hen-party. - M.: Sovremennik. - 1983.
Birch in every song. - Volgograd: Lower Volga book. publishing house - 1984.
What was, was ... - Volgograd: Lower Volga book. publishing house - 1985.
Favorites. - M.: Fiction. - 1986.
Poems. - Volgograd: Village. - 1993.

Songs on verses by Agashina

Where can I get such a song (Grigory Ponomarenko)
Woman's share (Grigory Ponomarenko)
Blue scarf (Grigory Ponomarenko)
Song about a soldier (Vladimir Migulya)
Song about my soldier (Evgeny Zharkovsky)
Give me a handkerchief (Grigory Ponomarenko)
Tell me, friend (Evgeny Ptichkin)
Volgograd tango (Mikhail Chuev)
What was, was (Grigory Ponomarenko)
A birch grows in Volgograd (Grigory Ponomarenko)

Social work

Member of the Union of Writers of the USSR (1949).

Political activity

Deputy of the City Council of Working People's Deputies (1957-1959; 1967-1969)
Deputy of the District Council of Working People's Deputies (1963-1965)
Deputy of the Regional Council of Workers' Deputies (1971-1975)

Awards

Order of the Red Banner of Labor
Order of the Badge of Honor
Honorary Diploma of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR (1974)
first laureate of the All-Russian Literary Prize "Stalingrad", established by the Writers' Union of Russia, the Volgograd Regional Administration and the Volgograd Writers' Organization (1996)
Honorary citizen of Volgograd (October 19, 1993)

Margarita Agashina is a famous Russian poetess who has lived in Volgograd since 1951 and dedicated most of her work to the city that became her home. Many of her works - wonderful, simple and understandable poems for everyone - were set to music and became famous songs. Margarita Agashina has published 36 collections of poems. Thanks to her thesis `My Word` was admitted to the Union of Writers.

Margarita Konstantinovna was born on February 29, 1924 in the village of Bor, Yaroslavl province. Margarita's father is a doctor. He had to roam the taiga. Margarita's mother is a German teacher.

In the early 1930s, the Agashins family moved to the Ivanovo region. After graduating from school, Margarita entered the Moscow Institute of Non-Ferrous Metals and Gold, but, without completing her 2nd year, she left for the M. Gorky Literary Institute. Graduated from the Institute

in 1950, and in 1951 Margarita moved to live in Volgograd.

Here she lived until the end of her days. Real fame came to Margarita Agashina after Lyudmila Zykina performed the song “Birch Grows in Volgograd”:

But there is a birch in Volgograd -
You will see, and the heart will freeze ...

It turned out that this birch has a prototype!

Agashina herself wrote how to get residents and guests of Volgograd to this birch: “We must go not to the Mamaev Kurgan stop, but to the Central Stadium. Cross Lenina Avenue and go to the train station, there is such a wide asphalt road with lawns in the middle. As you get to the first path on the right side, you need to turn onto it and go to Mamaev Kurgan. On both sides of the path there are many trees with signs. And now you will see a birch on the right - now it is no longer a birch, but a birch, the largest in this park, and in front of it is a sign: "The death of the brave died in 1941-1945 the Rykunov brothers: Ivan - 1899, Stepan - 1907, Vasily - 1912, Sergei - 1914. From his brother Fyodor Ivanovich "".

Years have passed. Gone in immortality and Margarita Agashina and Grigory Ponomarenko and Lyudmila Zykina.

There remains a folk song about a birch on Mamaev Kurgan.

But with the prototype itself - a misfortune happened.

Birch - cut down ...

And now there is a continuation of these patriotic traditions in Volgograd, there is a park, a lot of greenery, trees are being renewed.

Margarita Konstantinovna wrote many wonderful poems in her life. She wrote about love, about life, about nature, about family.

A special theme is the war, Stalingrad:

Already he is in the grasses, pungent in the steppe,

Bumblebees are already working on them,

Already its cooled fragments

Tourists were taken all over the earth.

And everything goes according to all the laws of the world.

But every year, as soon as the snow melts,

A mine comes out from under his land -

The last, distant plan of the enemy

The song "Give me a handkerchief ..." is a real hit of the second half of the last century. This song can still be heard on the air. She was included in her repertoire by Lyudmila Zykina, Nadezhda Babkina ...

It is well known how the poems "Give me a handkerchief ..." were written.

Margarita Konstantinovna herself spoke about this: “I remember once I had to go to the next literary evening. For all such meetings with readers at that time, I invariably put on a cashmere scarf - green leaves and scarlet roses on a black field, presented to me in Tajikistan ... I loved it and took care of it. Before putting it on, she always stroked it and each time quietly, silently sang to herself to different motives: “Give me a handkerchief ...” And then somehow it didn’t sing: the song didn’t go. In my opinion, the scarf - the scarf itself - is already a song. Feminine fidelity is a scarf. A girl's memory is a handkerchief. Widow's tears, mother's tears - all a handkerchief. To work - in a scarf. Grief will come, again a scarf - the first revenue and support. There is no gift sweeter than a scarf, there is no more memorable ... So this time I began to iron my expensive scarf, and as soon as I remembered “give me a scarf” - everything went on by itself ... "

In 1993, Margarita Konstantinovna Agashina was awarded the title of

"Honorary Citizen of the Hero City of Volgograd".

Margarita Agashina died in 1999 at the age of 75.

Margarita Agashina - about herself

Do not believe those who say over me
High grave words!
What was - and I was different -
I'll tell you as long as I'm alive.

And I - like everyone else: and cried and sang,
She was ashamed to cry and loved to sing.
And I didn't have much more time.
What I was entrusted with doing.

I love life. I say goodbye to her
Looking for roads and enjoy the spring!
And I try to live easier and more honestly,
What will they say about me after death.

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Margarita Agashina - about herself

I was born on February 29, 1924 in Yaroslavl. We, on the left bank of the Volga, did not have tall city buildings. Wooden houses with front gardens, with benches at the gates, yards overgrown with thick ants - expanse for children. My father was then still studying at the medical institute in Leningrad. Mom worked, every morning she left for the Volga on a small steamboat "Bee".

I remember the first song I heard: I didn’t fall asleep without songs for up to three years, and now my grandmother, who had no ear for music, rocked me with a single song:

I brought all the handkerchiefs,

one shawl remained.

Loved all the good ones

one piece left.

Mom was just as deaf, but she taught me and my sister an adult song:

The sun descends over the steppes,

feather grass is golden in the distance…

I remember the first verses over which I cried bitterly - "Orina, mother of a soldier." I couldn't read yet, I just listened. And so my mother reached the lines:

Few words, but grief river,

bottomless river of grief ...

And then every time I burst into tears. Nekrasov was read a lot at home. Everyone loved him and was even quietly proud that we, like him, were from Yaroslavl: we came from there, from Nekrasov places, our father's village of Bor - next to Greshnev. We have always talked about Nekrasov and his poems with delight and tenderness. I am grateful for this to my family and destiny. Because I am sure: if in childhood I had fallen in love with another poet just as much, then I would have written completely different poems. Or maybe I didn't write at all...

Both of my semi-literate grandfathers did not write poetry, but they were, in my opinion, poets. Maternal grandfather - Ivan Bolshakov, by the village nickname Vanka Moroz, was a cheerful, dashing guy. After serving in the tsarist army, he returned to his native place only to get married, and immediately left for Moscow. Grandmother, by the way, used to say, remembering: “I didn’t marry Vanka Moroz, but Moscow.” Grandfather served as a janitor, messenger, conductor on the railway. Once, having received a new form, on the inside of his cap, he wrote: “Don’t touch it, fool, it’s not your cap!” The paternal grandfather, Stepan Agashin, drove a horseshoe into the pine doorstep of his house - he probably believed that it would bring happiness to his children. There were eight children, and all of them had one felt boots.

I think: it was from that mischievous cap and from this sad horseshoe that my fate began.

Grandfather Ivan at one time, by hook or by crook, managed to ensure that his daughter - my mother - graduated from the gymnasium for free and became a teacher. The father, a doctor, received a higher education, one of all his sisters and brothers, and, of course, under the Soviet regime. He went through four wars in his life: an ordinary soldier - Civil, was wounded in the 19th year in the town of Rotten Bridge near Vitebsk, then, already a military surgeon, Finnish and Patriotic - from July 41 until the end of the war with Japan.

I had a free childhood, even though I was born in the city. Every summer we went to Bor. And how all this is remembered! The marinas smelled of vobla and matting, they bought strawberries for us at Babayki - from it the white milk in the plate turned either blue or pink. The steamboat slapped its wheels; near the shores, knee-deep in water, stood cows - white muzzles, black glasses. And there is the Red Profintern, four versts to Bor. Father's house, a garden, a black bathhouse, behind the garden a meadow - chamomile, Ivan-da-Marya, bluebells, and along the meadow - the river Eshka, one and a half meters wide ...

Then we moved to the Middle Volga, to the current Penza region. And again, beauty is nearby: meadows of forget-me-nots, oak forests and aspen forests full of mushrooms, thickets of ferns, and in them, under each lacy leaf, wild strawberries - not a berry or two, but you will immediately pick up a handful.

Then we lived far away in Siberia, in the taiga, in the center of the Evenk national district, at the Strelka Chuni trading post. Father spent winter and summer roaming the taiga with hunters and reindeer herders. Mom taught Evenk children in the first, just opened, school. Above the entrance to the school - where the usual "Welcome!" is now - there was a poster: "Fish, furs, finances, educational program - these are the four combat missions of the second quarter." I remember our roads - in winter, on reindeer through the whole taiga, from Strelka to Tura. We went weeks. They brought bags of frozen dumplings. We spent the night in a tent.

In those childhood years, I saw a lot of beauty - both Central Russian and northern, taiga. And the people nearby were wonderful - simple, kind, faithful. I know for sure: there, in the North, for the first time I was happy because everyone was together. I still remember all this.

But somehow fate proceeded in such a way and character developed that not all this different, happy, generous beauty and not even exoticism pushed me to the first verses.

I wrote the first, serious in feeling, poems when my father returned from the Finnish war. The poems were about it. They were published in the regional pioneer newspaper and they even sent me some kind of letter for them. This happened already in the small town of Teikov, Ivanovo region, where I graduated from high school and where our family was caught by the Great Patriotic War ...

At first we saw off my father and teachers to the front. Then the high school kids. I graduated from the courses of nurses and worked in a hospital. I studied in the ninth grade in the third, evening, shift. In Teykovo and the surrounding forests and villages, then, as elsewhere, military units were stationed. Pilots and paratroopers lived in every Teikovsky house. And, of course, each Teykov girl had her own paratrooper. They came to us for school evenings, and we - to them in the dugouts, in the suburban forest, with amateur concerts. And I read my poems:

When the pilot's hand squeezes the helm,

enveloping the field in blue haze,

you will be carried away by steel planes

on a long journey, in a harsh difficult battle ...

It is better to remain silent about the poetic merits of poetry. But in my later life I had a chance to perform, perhaps, more than necessary. And no audience has ever received me so warmly.

By this time, I already knew that there was a Literary Institute in Moscow, and, of course, I dreamed of studying there. But there was a war, and only technical universities gave a call to Moscow. I didn't care what technical one, and I simply chose an institute with a beautiful name: the Institute of Non-Ferrous Metals and Gold. I studied at the Mining Faculty for two years, handed over, with sin in half, all sorts of technical difficulties, such as strength of materials and theoretical mechanics, but in the spring of 45, without completing my second year, I left for the Gorky Literary Institute.