Taras Shevchenko: Lights Are Blazing

Taras Shevchenko, Selfportrait, 1860
(http://www.infoukes.com/shevchenkomuseum/poetry2.htm)
no copyright infringement intended

The lights are blazing, music's playing,
Like jewels gleaming in the night
The eyes of youth are shining gaily,
Alight with hope, with pleasure flaming;
Their eyes are bright, for to the sight
Of innocence all things seem right.
So all are laughing, all are jolly,
And all are dancing. Only I,
As though accursed, in melancholy
Look on and wipe a mournful eye.
Why do I weep? Perhaps the reason's
That dreary, like the rainy season,
My youth has uselessly slipped by.

Orenburg, 1850

translated by John Weir

(http://www.infoukes.com/shevchenkomuseum/poetry2.htm)

(Taras Shevchenko)