Taras Shevchenko

" The days pass, the nights pass, As does summer. Yellowed leaves Rustle, eyes grow dim, Thoughts fall asleep, the heart sleeps, All has gone to rest, and I don’t know Whether I’m alive or will live, Or whether I’m rushing like this through the world, For I’m no longer weeping or laughing…"

" The days pass, the nights pass, As does summer. Yellowed leaves Rustle, eyes grow dim, Thoughts fall asleep, the heart sleeps, All has gone to rest, and I don’t know Whether I’m alive or will live, Or whether I’m rushing like this through the world, For I’m no longer weeping or laughing…"

" My fate, fate, where are you now? I have none; If you begrudge me a good one, Lord, Then give me a bad one! Let a walking man not sleep, To die in spirit And knock about the entire world Like a rotten stump. But let me live, with my heart live And love people. And if not… then curse And burn the world! It’s horrible to end up in chains To die in captivity, But it’s worse to be free"

" And to sleep, and sleep, and sleep— And to fall asleep forever, And to leave no trace At all, as if it were all the same Whether you had lived or died! Fate, where are you, fate where are you? I have none! If you begrudge me a good one, Lord, Then give me a bad one! A bad one!"

" When I die, bury me On a grave mound Amid the wide-wide steppe In my beloved Ukraine, In a place from where the wide-tilled fields And the Dnipro and its steep banks Can be seen and Its roaring rapids heard. When it carries off The enemy’s blood from Ukraine To the deep blue sea… I’ll leave The tilled fields and mountains— I’ll leave everything behind and ascend"

" To pray to God Himself… but till then I don’t know God. Bury me and arise, break your chains And sprinkle your freedom With the enemy’s evil blood. And don’t forget to remember me In the great family, In a family new and free, With a kind and quiet word."