Taras Shevchenko. Chyhyryn from the Subotiv Way. Mid-September 1845. Watercolor (Тарас Шевченко. Чигирин з Суботівського шляху. Середина вересня 1845 р. Акварель).
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Taras Shevchenko
TESTAMENT
("Iak umru to pokhovaite")
Translated by Alexander J. Motyl
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.
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Taras Shevchenko, "Testament"
"Zapovit" / "Iak umru to pokhovaite"
("Заповіт" / "Як умру, то поховайте"),
1845, Pereiaslav (Переяслав)
Translated by Alexander J. Motyl
Source:
"Ukrainian Literature. A Journal of Translations" Volume 4.2014"
Shevchenko Scientific Society, New York, USA.
http://sites.utoronto.ca/
Original publication:
Taras Shevchenko. Zibrannia tvoriv u 6 tomakh, Кyiv: Naukova dumka, 2003, 1: p.371.
More poems of Taras Shevchenko translated into English by Alexander J. Motyl:
Alexander John Motyl (Олександр Мотиль) is a Ukrainian-American historian, political scientist, poet, writer, translator and painter.
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Taras Shevchenko's poem