150th Anniversary of the death of Taras Shevchenko

150 річниця від дня смерті Тараса Шевченка
150th Anniversary of the death of Taras Shevchenko

Фото: Над Україною ніч Сергій Марченко, Київ
Taras Shevchenko monument as seen from the back, looking at Taras Shevchenko University, Kyiv.
Photo: Night over Ukraine Serhiy Marchenko, Kyiv

Мені однаково, чи буду
Я жить в Україні, чи ні.
Чи хто згадає, чи забуде
Мене в снігу на чужині
Однаковісінько мені.
Та не однаково мені,
Як Україну злії люди
Присплять, лукаві, і в огні
Її, окраденую, збудять…
Ох, не однаково мені.

It is indifferent to me, if I
Live in Ukraine or live there not at all,
Whether or not men let my memory die ;
Here in an alien land, mid snows piled high
It will not matter that such things befall.

In serfdom, among strangers was I reared,
And unlamented wholly by my own
In exile I shall die, in grief uncheered,
And to my nameless grave shall pass alone.
No trace of me, alas, will then remain
To see in all our glorious Ukraine,
In all that land of ours that is not ours.
No father will commend me to his son,
To pray for me to God, source of all powers :
" Pray then, my boy ! For us his course was run.
He died to save Ukraine, whom Fate devours. "

It is indifferent to me, I say,
Whether or not that son for me should pray...
But while I live I cannot bear to see
A wicked people come with crafty threat,
To lull Ukraine yet strip her ruthlessly
And waken her amid the flames they set
Sure, no indifference in me these wrongs beget !