Taras Shevchenko
ONCE MORE THE POST HAS BROUGHT TO ME
("I znov meni ne pryvezla" / "І знов мені не привезла")
Once more the post has brought to me
Nothing, nothing from Ukraine!
For sinful deeds, it seems to be,
I suffer in this desert plain,
Punished by wrathful God. To know
The reason why is not for me,
I do not even wish to know!...
But my heart weeps bitterly
When I recall what used to be,
Those days, those happenings that once rolled,
Although not joyful, over me,
In my own Ukraine of old.
Of old, great oaths they swore, and vowed
To be my brothers and sisters dear,
Until we parted like a cloud,
Without the holy dew of tears.
So in my old age, I go
Blaming again and cu - ... No, No!
From cholera they must have died —
Or else a scrap at least they’d try
To send, of paper...
... Ah, from anxiety and grief,
That I might not watch them read
Their letters, there, beside the sea,
I’ll take a walk along the seashore,
That I might distract my sorrow,
Might recall my dear Ukraine,
Sing a well-loved song again.
Men would tell them, men betray me; —
Song has good advice to say me,
Will advise, distract my grief,
And speak to me the blessed truth.
Taras Shevchenko's poem
"I znov meni ne pryvezla"
("І знов мені не привезла")
1848, Kos-Aral, (Косарал)
Translated by Vera Rich
Source of the original poem in Ukrainian: Taras Shevchenko. Zibrannja tvoriv: U 6 t. — Kyjiv, "Naukova dumka", 2003. Том 2: Поезія 1847 - 1861, stor. 158; 654.
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. 94.
Here you can find Ukrainian text of the Taras Shevchenko's poem:
Original poem in Ukrainian
