Four Poems
Testament
("Iak umru to pokhovaite")
When I die,
let me rest, let me lie
amidst Ukraine’s broad steppes.
Let me see
the endless fields and steep slopes
I hold so dear.
Let me hear
the Dnipro’s great roar.
And when the blood
of Ukraine’s foes flows
into the blue waters of the sea,
that’s when I’ll forget
the fields and hills
and leave it all
and pray to God.
Until then, I know no God.
So bury me, rise up,
and break your chains.
Water your freedom
with the blood of oppressors.
And then remember me
with gentle whispers
and kind words
in the great family
of the newly free.
Taras Shevchenko,
"Zapovit" / "Iak umru to pokhovaite"
("Заповіт" / "Як умру, то поховайте"),
1845, Pereiaslav (Переяслав)
Translated by Alexander J. Motyl
Original publication:
Taras Shevchenko, Untitled “(Iak umru to
pokhovaite),” Zibrannia tvoriv u 6 tomakh, Кyiv: Naukova dumka, 2003, 1:p.371.
Source:
"Ukrainian Literature. A Journal of Translations" Volume 4.2014"
Shevchenko Scientific Society, New York, USA
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