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Taras Shevchenko's poem "The Mighty Dnieper" (translated by John Weir)

Taras Shevchenko

THE MIGHTY DNIEPER

("Prychynna" / "Reve ta stohne Dnipr shyrokyi",
"Причинна" / "Реве та стогне Дніпр широкий")

Translated by John Weir

The mighty Dnieper roars and bellows,
The wind in anger howls and raves,
Down to the ground it bends the willows,
And mountain-high lifts up the waves.

The pale-faced moon picked out this moment
To peek out from behind a cloud,
Like a canoe upon the ocean
It first tips up, and then dips down.

The cocks don't crow to wake the morning,
There's not as yet a sound of man,
The owls in glades call out their warnings,
And ash trees creak and creak again.

Taras Shevchenko, poem "The Mighty Dnieper"
"Prychynna" / "Reve ta stohne Dnipr shyrokyi"
("Причинна" / "Реве та стогне Дніпр широкий")
1837, S.- Petersburg (С.- Петербург)

Translated by John Weir

Source: http://www.infoukes.com/

Original publication:
Taras Shevchenko. Zibrannia tvoriv: U 6 t. — K., 2003. — T. 1:
Poeziia 1837 - 1847. — S. 71 - 78; S. 595 - 598.

Тарас Шевченко

РЕВЕ ТА СТОГНЕ ДНІПР ШИРОКИЙ

Реве та стогне Дніпр широкий
Сердитий вітер завива,
Додолу верби гне високі,
Горами хвилю підійма.

І блідий місяць на ту пору
Із хмари де-де виглядав, −
Неначе човен в синім морю,
То виринав, то потопав.

Ще треті півні не співали,
Ніхто ніде не гомонів,
Сичі в гаю перекликались,
Та ясень раз-у-раз скрипів.

За матеріалами:

Тарас Шевченко. Видання "Малий Кобзар для дітей з малюнками", видавництво "Український учитель", 1911.

More Taras Shevchenko's poems translated from Ukrainian into English by John Weir:

Poems of Taras Shevchenko translated into English by John Weir

John Weir (Ivan Fedorovych Viv'yurskiy), a Canadian of the Ukrainian lineage, was a talented English-speaking translator of the second half of the 19ih century. During his life he translated 29 Shevchenko's poetic works, a prosaic foreword to the poem of «The Haidamaky», the narrative «The Artist», the poet’s autobiographic letter and some excerpts from his diary. John Weir, being a translator with the Ukrainian root, felt melodiousness of Shevchenko’s lines, understood a social foundation of the poet's artistic images.