Words and Verse
A Reflection (Translation-Ukrainian)
This is translated from Taras Shevchenko. Shevchenko to a Ukrainian is what Dante is to the Italians, Goethe to the Germans, Pushkin to the Russians, and Mickiewicz to the Poles. To get a sense of his reverence to Ukrainians, imagine if Shakespeare, Keats, Byron, and a bit of Poe, were all one person
The river flows to the blue sea
But never flows back in;
A Cossack lad seeks fortune though
It never comes to him.
The Cossack lad has left his kin
He's left his home behind,
The blue sea's waters rise and wash
Thoughts vex his weary mind:
“You heedless fool, why did you go?
What whim made you depart
From loving father, mother and
The darling of your heart,
For foreign lands and foreign folk
Whose ways are not your own
They will not share your woes or joys
Or feed you in their home.
The blue sea's waters rise and wash
He sit's beside, distraught.
He thought he'd find his fortune, now
Misfortune is his lot.
The gulls careen across the skies,
Homeward their journey leads,
The Cossack weeps-- his beaten path
Is overgrown with weeds.
The river flows to the blue sea
But never flows back in;
A Cossack lad seeks fortune though
It never comes to him.
The Cossack lad has left his kin
He's left his home behind,
The blue sea's waters rise and wash
Thoughts vex his weary mind:
“You heedless fool, why did you go?
What whim made you depart
From loving father, mother and
The darling of your heart,
For foreign lands and foreign folk
Whose ways are not your own
They will not share your woes or joys
Or feed you in their home.
The blue sea's waters rise and wash
He sit's beside, distraught.
He thought he'd find his fortune, now
Misfortune is his lot.
The gulls careen across the skies,
Homeward their journey leads,
The Cossack weeps-- his beaten path
Is overgrown with weeds.
Comment On This Poem --- Vote for this poem
A Reflection (Translation-Ukrainian)
A Reflection (Translation-Ukrainian)
