Lesya Ukrainka Quotes
Oh, Mavka dear, You're drawing out my soul...
It is from the hands of death people get immortality.
In the forest nothing is ever mute.
Oh joy! A star from heaven fell in my heart!
How lovely it would be to die like a falling star.
No! I live! I will live forever! I have a heart that does not die.
My blade shall sever the fetters of iron and echo aloud in the forts of all tyrants.
No, hush! I want to hear your heart speak loud.
It talks, but faintly, like the nights in spring.
I've never been
In love before, and so I never knew,
That love could be so sweet.
On this poor, indigent ground
I shall sow flowers of flowing colors;
I shall sow flowers even amidst the frost,
And water them with my bitter tears.
As I die, the
abandoned fire of my songs will burn in the world,
and the restrained sowing will sow,
it will burn at night, it will burn in the daytime.
How lovely is the strain
Of mingled joy and pain;
It cuts deep in the breast
And cleaves the heart in twain.
Why are my words not like steel brightly flashing
Out in the field where two armies are clashing ?
Why not a sabre whose pitiless blows
Cut off the heads of our bitterest foes ?
O my sweet, how can it be a cause for gladness
That I blossom when my heart is full of gall and sadness ?
Will the grave be dearer to you, my beloved,
If I am a green tree rising silently above it ?
Why must I be silent at the side of my beloved ?
O the tree is silent while the axe is swinging,
When the man cuts deeply, then the tree is singing.
First a branch he severs, then a pipe he's playing,
With an arrow from the guelder-rose his heart assailing.
How pettishly you've broken off my rhyme!
Have you forgotten last year's summertime?
Of last year's summer I no memory keep
What was sung then died out in winter's sleep.
No memory it provokes.
Away, dark thoughts, you autumn clouds!
A golden spring is here!
Shall it be thus in sorrow and in lamentation
That my youthful years pass away?
No, through all my tears I still shall laugh,
Sing songs despite my troubles;
Have hope despite all odds,
I want to live! Away, you sorrowful thoughts!
On this poor, indigent ground
I shall sow flowers of flowing colors;
I shall sow flowers even amidst the frost,
And water them with my bitter tears.
And from those burning tears will melt
The frozen crust, so hard and strong,
Perhaps the flowers will bloom and
Bring about for me a joyous spring.
Unto a winding, flinty mountain
Shall I bear my weighty stone,
Yet, even bearing such a crushing weight,
Will I sing a joyful song.
Throughout a lasting night of darkness
Ne'er shall I rest my own eyes,
Always searching for the guiding star,
The bright empress of the dark night skies.
I shall not allow my heart to fall sleep,
Though gloom and misery envelop me,
Despite my certain feelings
That death is beating at my breast.
Death will settle heavily on that breast,
The snow covered by a cruel haze,
But fierce shall beat my little heart,
And maybe, with its ferocity, overcome death.
Yes, I will laugh despite my tears,
I'll sing out songs amidst my misfortunes;
I'll have hope despite all odds,
I will live! Away, you sorrowful thoughts!
