A dream / То Marko Vovchok
("Na panshchyni pshenytsiu zhala")
Out in the field she laboured, reaping
The master’s wheat; then, wearied, went
To where she’d left her baby sleeping
Beside a stack. O’er him she bent
And cradled in her arms the crying
And whimpering bundle. Lovingly
She changed and fed him, pacifying
Her son with lullaby. When he
Slept, on her knee untroubled lying,
She dozed, and in her dream she saw
Ivan, her son, a babe no longer,
But fully grown. Tall, handsome, strong he
And rich appeared, a man; what’s more,
A free man, not a serf, and wedded
To one free like himself. Attended
By wife and children, in the field,
His own, he toiled. She saw him wield
A scythe and smiled.... All of a sudden
There was she wide awake and under
A haystack sitting.... Heavens!... Tightly
Her child she swaddled, and in haste
Went off to reap - the steward, might he
Not come upon her, angry-faced!...
Taras Shevchenko
"Na panshchyni pshenytsiu zhala"
("На панщині пшеницю жала")
1858, S.- Petersburg (С.- Петербург)
Translated by Irina Zheleznova
Original publication:
Taras Shevchenko. Zibrannia tvoriv: U 6 t. — K., 2003. — T. 2: Poeziia 1847-1861. — S. 279; 703-704
Source: Taras Shevchenko. Selected poetry. Kiev, Dnipro, 1977, p.269