Taras Shevchenko, Testament (Заповіт)

Заповіт
oil on canvas by Юрій Шаповал, 2014
(http://world.maidanua.org/2014/taras-shevchenko-the-testament)
no copyright infringement intended

Як умру, то поховайте

Мене на могилі

Серед степу широкого

На Вкраїні милій,

Щоб лани широкополі,

І Дніпро, і кручі

Було видно, було чути,

Як реве ревучий.

Як понесе з України

У синєє море

Кров ворожу... отойді я

І лани і гори —

Все покину, і полину

До самого Бога

Молитися... а до того

Я не знаю Бога.

Поховайте та вставайте,

Кайдани порвіте

І вражою злою кров’ю

Волю окропіте.

І мене в сем’ї великій,

В сем’ї вольній, новій,

Не забудьте пом’янути

Незлим тихим словом.

(http://litopys.org.ua/shevchenko/shev146.htm)

Заповіт was translated in more than 60 tongues. Here are two renderings into English. I am sure there are also Romanian translations. I looked for them, without success so far. I tried then my own Romanian rendering.

voiced by Val Ulanovsky
(video, traanslation, photos by Michael Noel)

When I am dead, bury me

In my beloved Ukraine,

My tomb upon a grave mound high

Amid the spreading plain,

So that the fields, the boundless steppes,

The Dnieper's plunging shore

My eyes could see, my ears could hear

The mighty river roar.

When from Ukraine the Dnieper bears

Into the deep blue sea

The blood of foes ... then will I leave

These hills and fertile fields --

I'll leave them all and fly away

To the abode of God,

And then I'll pray .... But till that day

I nothing know of God.

Oh bury me, then rise ye up

And break your heavy chains

And water with the tyrants' blood

The freedom you have gained.

And in the great new family,

The family of the free,

With softly spoken, kindly word

Remember also me.

Pereyaslav, December 25, 1845

Translated by John Weir, 1961

(http://www.ukemonde.com/shevchenko/testament.html)

At his death the poet was first buried at the Smolensk Cemetery in Saint Petersburg. However, fulfilling Shevchenko's wish, expressed in his poem , to be buried in Ukraine, his friends arranged to transfer his remains by train to Moscow and then by horse-drawn wagon to his native land. Shevchenko's remains were buried on May 8 on Chernecha Hora (Monk's Hill; now Taras Hora) by the Dnieper River near Kaniv. A tall mound was erected over his grave (wiki)

Тарас Шевченко - Заповіт
(http://kolinanastasiya.blogspot.com/2013/11/blog-post_7372.html)
no copyright infringement intended

Când voi muri, să m-aşezaţi
Într-o movilă 'naltă
În mijlocul întinsei stepe,
În Ucraina mea scumpă,
Astfel să văd şi să aud
Foşnetul câmpiei fără sfârşit,
Şi Niprul, clocotind vijelios,
Zdrobindu-se de malurile lui stâncoase.

Iar când Niprul din Ucraina-şi
Varsă în marea cea albastră
Sângele vrajmaşilor,
Cu el voi părăsi aceste culmi şi stepe
Şi voi zbura-n înalt,
Spre-al Domnului lăcaş,
Şi-acolo rugi voi înălţa - dar pân-atunci
Nu ştiu nimic de El.

Înmormântaţi-mă, şi-apoi vă ridicaţi
Şi rupeţi-vă lanturile
Stropiţi cu sângele tiranilor
Libertatea ce-o veţi fi câştigat.
Iar în noua familie,
Marea familie a celor liberi,
Cu vorbe blânde, şi şoptit,
Să v-amintiţi şi de mine.

(Taras Shevchenko)