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The Kobzar of the Ukraine

by Taras Shevchenko

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Mighty Wind

Mighty wind, mighty wind!
  With the sea thou speakest;
Waken it, play with it,
  Question the blue sea.
It knows where my lover is,
  Far away it bore him.
It will tell, the sea will tell,
  What it has done with him.

If it has drowned my darling,
  Beat on the blue sea.
I go to seek my loved one,
  And to drown my woe.
If I find him, I’ll cling to him,
  On his heart I’ll faint.
Then waves bear me with him
  Where’er the winds do blow.

If my lover is beyond the sea,
  Mighty wind, thou knowest
Where he goes, what he does,
  With him thou speakest.
If he weeps, then I shall weep,
  If not, I sing.
If my dark-haired one has perished,
  I shall perish, too.

Then bear my soul away
  Where my loved one is,
Plant me as a red viburnum
  On his tomb.
Better that an orphan lie
  In a stranger’s field,
Over him his sweetheart
  Will bud and bloom.

As a blossom of viburnum
  Over him I’ll bloom,
That foreign sun may burn him not,
  Nor strangers trample on his tomb.
At even I’ll grieve,
  In the morning I’ll weep.
The sun comes up,
  My tears I’ll dry,
And no one sees.

Mighty wind, mighty wind!
  With the sea thou speakest.
Waken it, play on it,
  Question the blue sea.

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