The Princess   (Taras Shevchenko)

Oh my shiny evening star,

Rising above the ridge,

Let us whisper softly

whilst we are in bondage.

Tell me how behind the hill

The sun is setting,

and the rainbow from the Dnipr

water is gathering

How wide the black poplar

has spread her boughs

Whilst over near the water

the willow bows;

Over the water, her

greenery spreading,

and on her branches

Nymphs are dancing.

On the grave in the field

а werewolf is sleeping,

The owls in the wood
(and on the rooftops)

Trouble are foreseeing

As the dream-herb in the dene

blooms in the evening

About the people; let them be!

I know that they are sterling.

I know them well. My shining light

My only companion!

And who knows, what's happening

with us in Ukrayina?

But I know! And will tell you;

forgoing even my sleep.

So tomorrow, you can

quietly to God repeat!

On a clear night   (Oleksandr Konyskyy)

On a clear night he will no

Longer come to the orchard

he will not embrace me

nor place his forehead

To my passionate lips!

His loving gaze

no longer imbues

and no one can

heal nor pacify my

hearts deepest wounds!

He alone understood

in the world he was the one

my affliction and grief

and that infernal longing

that will never abandon me

All my sorrow and heartaches

he shared,

and with his love

how many times, oh, holy

new life poured into me

And now? No, don't wait!

He will not come here

Be still my heart,

don’t awake old wounds

A Coral Necklace (Taras Shevchenko)

If I, mother, had a necklace,

I would have gone to town tomorrow,

And in town, mother, on the town

And mother, the folk trio’s playing

And girls with the young guys,

Flirting. Mother! Mother! Mother!

Flirting Mother! Mother!

I am so unlucky!

I will pray to God above,

I will work to earn enough,

I'll buy some dancing shoes,

And then I'll hire the folk trio

Let the folks be not surprised,

As I, Mother, have a dance

I will have fun, I will have fun!

Do not let me be a maid,

my hair to weave and braid,

my eye brows to abrade

be a spinster, unwanted, alone.

And before I can earn enough

my raven eyebrows will turn grey.

I am so unlucky! I am so unlucky

Asters    (Oleksander Oles)

At midnight in the garden the asters flowered,

they washed in dew, their wreaths embellished

and they stood waiting for the pink of the morn,

the colours of the rainbow, life to adorn.

The asters raved in luxurious dreaminess,

of silky grass and of warm sunny days

and in their dreams the story was alive, so clear,

where spring was eternal and flowers don't wither,

The asters ranted in the orchard in the fall.

the asters ranted waiting for spring to befall,

but the morning greeted them with cold rain,

and behind the hedge the wind howled again

And the asters perceived they were imprisoned;

so the asters determined to live was pointless,

so they bent over and died. And as though in jest

the sun rose and shone on their withered corpses

Ukrainian Melody   (Yevhen Hrebinka)

(daughter)

No, Mother, I can't love one who does not love me

It's tragedy to live with him, as he does not love me.

It's hard; it's so hard to make conversation,

It's better I just spend my life as a maid.

(mother)

But can you not see I am getting old?

I'll soon find eternal rest in my tomb.

When my eyes close, who will be with you?

You'll be left, my daughter an orphan forlorn.

(daughter)

Oh mother dear, don't weep, please don't cry,

Prepare the embroidered towels and kerchiefs.

I will go with him, my happiness I will yield

you will be happy, alone I will shed tears!

Over yonder on a grave stands God’s cross

Beneath it, from morn to night a mother sobs

“Dear God, my Saviour, what have I done,

the daughter I wanted; for ever I have lost!”