"Emptiness" ("Zavorozhy meni, volkhve, druzhe syvousyi") - poem of T. Shevchenko (Translated from Ukrainian by С.H. Andrusyshen and Watson Kirkconnell)

Emptiness

To M. S. Shchepkin

("Zavorozhy meni, volkhve, druzhe syvousyi")

Tell me my fortune, Sorcerer,
My hoary-whiskered friend!
Your own fate you've already sealed;
Of mine I fear the end...
I'm still afraid to bring to naught
My dwelling scorched with fire;
My heart I'm fearful to inter
With all its warm desire!...
Perhaps my hope will yet return
With the life-giving flood —
The bracing water of my tears
Upon the sullen mud;
Perhaps the winter will pervade
My roofless emptiness,
With pleasant coverings of snow
My fire-scorched hut to bless;
Will sweep it, bring it tidiness,
And radiant light will find;
Perhaps it will restore again
The children of my mind;
Perhaps once more I'll shed my tears
And wipe my children's eyes;
Perhaps I'll see, as in a dream,
The sun of justice rise!
Rise, brother, rise to humour me!
Tell me, beyond a doubt,
If I should pray, or weep today,
Or bash my poor brains out!

Taras Shevchenko
"Zavorozhy meni, volkhve, druzhe syvousyi"
("Заворожи мені, волхве, друже сивоусий")
1843, S.- Petersburg, (C. - Петербург)

Translated by С.H. Andrusyshen and Watson Kirkconnell

Original publication: Taras Shevchenko. Zibrannia tvoriv: U 6 t. — K., 2003. — T. 1: Poeziia 1837-1847. — S. 283; S. 709-710

Source: The Poetical Works of Taras Shevchenko. The Kobzar. Translated from the Ukrainian by С.H. Andrusyshen and Watson Kirkconnell. Published for the Ukrainian Canadian Committee by University of Toronto Press, 1964. Toronto and Buffalo. Printed in Canada, Reprinted 1977, p. 180 - 181.

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