"Days are passing, nights are passing" poem of Taras Shevchenko. Translated from Ukrainian by Vera Rich

Taras Shevchenko

DAYS ARE PASSING, NIGHTS ARE PASSING

("Mynajutj dni, mynajutj nochi" / "Минають дні, минають ночі")

Days are passing, nights are passing,
Summer passes, yellowed leaves
Rustle, sight dims, and thought, grown drowsy,
Is slumbering, heart falls asleep;
All is asleep,— I do not know 
Whether I live, or fade, or go 
Tramping the world on empty paths,
For now I neither weep nor laugh...
Where are you, my fortune? Where?  
There is none, is none!
Lord, if good fate 
Thou wouldst grudge me, 
Grant an evil one!
Let me not fall asleep while walking,
In my heart to die,
Do not permit me, like a rotten 
Log on this earth to lie,
Let me live, live in my heart,
Love my fellow men,
Or if not — let me set the world 
Alight with curses then.
Terrible to fall into chains,
Die in captivity,
But worse, far worse, to sleep, to sleep,
To sleep in liberty,
Fall asleep for evermore,
So that there remains
Not a trace : He lived, or perished?
It is all the same....
Where are you, my fortune, where?
There is none, is none!
Lord, if good fate 
Thou would’st grudge me, 
Grant an evil one!

Poem of Taras Shevchenko
"Mynajutj dni, mynajutj nochi"
("Минають дні, минають ночі")
1845, V’yunyshcha, (В'юнище)

Translated by Vera Rich

Source of the original poem in Ukrainian:
Taras Shevchenko. Zibrannia tvoriv: U 6 t. - Kyjiv, "Naukova dumka", 2003. Tom 1:
Poeziia 1837 - 1847, stor. 367; stor. 749.

Source of English translation of the poem: Taras Shevchenko."Song out of Darkness". Selected poems translated from the Ukrainian by Vera Rich. London, 1961, p. 84.

Here you can find Ukrainian text of the Taras Shevchenko's poem:
Original poem in Ukrainian