Blaze of lights and music calling
("Oghni ghorjatj, muzýka ghraje")
Blaze of lights and music calling,
Music weeping, rising, falling!
Like rare and precious diamond,
Youthful eyes are gleaming fair,
Joy and hope are shining there
in laughing eyes. All bliss is sent
To eyes so young and innocent!
On all sides, yeople laugh and smile,
All are dancing, only I
Like one bewitched, look on meanwhile
And weep in secret, weep and sigh ...
Mhy do I weep? Perhaps that ever
All eventless, like grey weather,
All my youth has passed me by.
Taras Shevchenko
"Oghni ghorjatj, muzýka ghraje"
("Огні горять, музи́ка грає")
1850, Orenburgh (Оренбург)
Translated by Vera Rich
Original publication:
Taras Shevchenko. Zibrannja tvoriv: U 6 t. — K., 2003. — T. 2: Poezija 1847-1861. — S. 230; 686-687
Source:
Taras Shevchenko. Works. Volume 12. Shevchenko's poetry in translations.
Edited by Bolidan Krawciw. Printed by Mykola Denysiuk Printing Company
Chicago, Illinois — USA, 1963, page 67.