Songs

Mynajut' dni, mynajut' nochi,
The days pass by, nights flit away,
Mynaje lito; shelestyt'
The summer’s gone, pale leaves a-heap
Pozhovkle lystja; hasnut' ochi,
Are rustling; dreams my eyelids sway;
Zasnuly dumy, sertse spyt'.
My thoughts and heart are both asleep.

I vse zasnulo... I ne znaju,
All things around me sleep – I know not
Chy ja zhyvu, chy dozhyvaju,
Whether I live or drowse the while.
Chy tak po svitu volochus’,
By any play, my hours flow not,
Bo vzhe ne plachu j ne smijus’….
No longer do I weep or smile…

Dole, de ty? Dole, de ty?
Where art thou, Destiny, ah where?
Nema nijakoji!
My soul is stirred by none!
Koly dobroji zhal’, Bozhe,
If Thou begrudges me fair fate,
To daj zloji, zloji!
Lord, send a ruthless one!

Ne daj spaty khodjachomu,
Let me not sleep when I should wake,
Sertsem zamyraty
Do not permit my heart to lie
I hnyloju kolodoju
A rotten log that men forsake
Po svitu valjatys’.
And leave in fetid infamy;

A daj zhyty, sertsem zhyy
But on me let fierce fervour fall
I ljudej ljubyty,
To love all people all my days,
A koly ni… To proklynat’
Or let me cast a curse on all
I svit zapalyty!
And set the torpid world ablaze!

Strashno vpasty u kajdany,
Dreadful it is to lie in chains
Umyrat’ v nevoli,
And die in slavery at last,
A shche hirshe – spaty, spaty,
Yet worse it is when sleep retains
I spaty na voli,
The free man’s spirit overcast,
I zasnuty na vikviky.
For all eternity to slumber

I slidu ne kynut’
And leave behind no sing or trace,
Nijajoho odnakovo –
As if his days had borne no number
Chy zhyv, chy zahynuv!
And there was nothing to efface…

Dole, de ty? Dole, de ty?
Where art thou, Destiny, ah where?
Nema nijakoji!
My soul is stirred by none!
Koly dobroji zhal’, Bozhe,
If Thou begrudges me fair fate,
To daj zloji, zloji!
Lord, send a ruthless one!