Songs

Meni odnakovo, chy budu
It is all one to me indeed, if I
Ja zhyt v Ukrajini, chy ni.
Live in Ukraine or live there not at all,
Chy khto zhadaje, chy zabude
Whether or not men let my memory die;
Mene v snihu na chuzhyni
Here in an alien land, mid snows piled high,
Odnakovisin’ko meni.
It will not matter that such things befall.

V nevoli vyris mizh chuzhymy,
In serfdom, among strangers was I reared,
I, ne oplakanyj svojimy,
And unlamented wholly by my own
V nevoli, plachuchy, umru,
In exile I shall die, in grief unsheared
I vse z soboju zaberu,
And to my nameless grave shall pass alone
Maloho slidu ne pokynu
No trace of me, alas, will then remain
Na nashij slavnij Ukrajini,
To see in all our glorious Ukraine,
Na nashik – ne svojij zemli.
In all that land of ours that is not ours.

I ne pomjane bat’ko z synom,
No father will commend me to his son,
Ne skazhe synovi: “Molys’.
That prayers for me to God he might confise:
Molysja, synu: za Vkrajinu
“Pray then then, my boy! For us his course was run.
Joho zamuchyly kolys”.
For our Ukraine he suffered and he died.”

Meni odnakovo, chy bude,
It is all one to me indeed, I say,
Toj syn molytysja, chy ni…
Whether or not that son for me should pray…
Ta ne odnakovo meni,
But while I live I cannot bear to see
Jak Ukrajinu zliji ljudy
A wicked people come with crafty threat,
Prysplijat’, lukavi, I v ohni
To lull Ukraine, yet strip her ruthlessly
Pryspljat’, lukavi, I v ohni
And waked her amid the the flames they set
Jiji, okradenuju, zbudjat’…
By God, these wrongs are not all one to me!
Okh! Okh, ne odnakovo meni.