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Taras Shevchenko
CYCLE OF POEMS «IN THE CASEMAT»
«STAY WITH YOUR MOTHER, MAID!" THEY TOLD YOU...»
Translated by Irina Zheleznova.
"Stay with your mother, maid!" they told you,
But you.... you left. For you in vain
She sought and waited: ne'er again
Was she, poor woman, to behold you!...
Long wept she, and in tears she died....
Where once you played, no sounds awaken
The shadows; empty and forsaken
The hut stands, no one comes inside;
The dog has run away, and under
The window, in the garden yonder,
The sheep by day graze, and at night
The owls hoot strangely; hid from sight
Beneath thick weeds, of waiting weary
For your return, a bed of bright
Flowers wilts; and in the wood, the cheery
Brook where you splashed is dry or nearly;
The trees look wistful with their bowed
And drooping branches, and the sound
Of woodbird's voice is stilled — the songster
Was it with you from here he went?...
Beside the stream, the willow bent
And shrivelled stands; the well, no longer
Used, rots away; the path you trod"
With shrubs is overgrown.... О God!
Where have you flown, sweet maid? Where live you
In what far place do strangers give you,
Poor, stray soul, shelter? What man's home
Call you your own? And, maid, to whom
In joy and warm affection cling you?
To whom, I ask you, gladness bring you?
My heart it tells me that regret
You know not, that you idly linger
In sumptuous halls and do not let
Thoughts of the past intrude.... May sorrow
Know you nof e'er, nor a tomorrow
When 'gainst the Lord you will declaim
And curse your mother's blessed name.
(In a prison cell, 1847)
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.jpg "Taras Shevchenko. Peasant yard. Pencil. 1845. (Тарас Шевченко. Селянське подвір’я. Начерк. Олівець. 1845 р.)")
