Classic Poem

R UDANSKY

Blow , O Wind, unto my Ukraine!
For I left there a sweet maiden.
Yea, two dark-brown eyes I left there —
Blow, thou wind, from midnight onward.

There in Ukraine lies a valley,
In the valley there's a Khuta;
In the hut there dwells a maiden —
Little maiden, wild she-pigeon.

There, O Wind, Hush and be silent!
Rest above her face in quiet;
Bow above her rosy face, thou;
Look: is she, my sweetheart, sleeping?

Or is she awake, my pigeon?
If she sleeps not, set her dreaming
Of the one she loved, her dearest,
Whom she swore she would forget not.

But, O Wind, if she forget me,
If she have another wooer. . . .
Die away in Ukraina —
Come not back to me in exile!
. . . . . . . . .

And the wind blows on through Ukraine ...
My heart weeps: 'tis full of sorrows ...
And the wind fled into Ukraine,
And it never turned backward.