Song
Malovskyi M.M.,
"Nashcho meni chorni brovy..."("Dumka" / "Nashcho meni chorni brovy")
What use are coal-black brows to me?
What use my hazel eyes?
Those years of happy maidenhood -
What joys from them arise?
Years of youth will pass away,
Vanish like the rose.
Eyes will weep and beauty fade,
With the wind it goes.
Aches my heart, 'tis tired of life,
Like a captive bird.
What can beauty do for me
If no luck's conferred?
Hard it is to live alone,
None to have to walk with:
Strangers are my kin to me,
None I find to talk with;
None with whom I dare to ask
Why my tears are thronging,
None to whom I might relate
Why my heart feels longing —
Why my heart is like a dove,
Cooing day and night —
No one ever asks me this,
Sees or hears aright.
Strangers do not care to ask —
Nay, why should they care?
Let the poor waif sob and weep,
it her in despair!
Weep, my heart, then weep, my eyes,
Till you fall asleep.
Loudly cry and fill with pain
Tempests of the deep.
Let the winds bear my complaint
Over the blue sea
To torment my handsome lad
Who was false to me!
Taras Shevchenko
"Dumka" / "Nashcho meni chorni brovy"
("Думка" / "Нащо мені чорні брови")
1839, 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. 84; S. 602-603
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.39-40