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? era On the Ruins A Dramatic Poem by LESYA UKRAYINKA (Larysa Kosach-Kvitka) Translated from the Ukrainian by DR. PERCIVAL CUNDY All Rights Reserved (Continued) SINGER: In vain I strive to call to mind the words Of Jeremiah's lamentation but I cannot do so, for my memory fails. TIRZAH: Try not, then, to recall, compose thy own. SIN'GER: Ah, sister, no! That would presumption be! Dost thou not know whose harp this is I hold? Twas Jeremiah's once, and he in turn Received it from Isaiah, who, ’tis said, Obtained it once from one of David’s house — Perhaps e’en David may have played on it While singing psalms unto Jehovah’s praise. Those psalms of David’s I remember well, But how may one sing them in days of shame? Isaiah’s prophecies are not fulfilled, Peace has not come, Messiah has not appeared — Let his songs pass into oblivion, Let them not vex us Jeremiah, though, Was our last prophet, who in ruins sang. Let him then live again upon these strings. If thou couldst but have heard how he wept here With mighty voice amidst this ravaged waste! The ruins then responded to the sound, And e’en the stones wept at the prophet’s voice. And when the prophet, in an iron yoke, Was led a captive from Jerusalem, Against the ruined atlar first he smote і his harp, then cast it shattered on the ground. And then it lay there long, long years, till I Came here one day while seeking wood to burn, And midst the ashes cold discovered it, A sacred relic of that man of God. I gathered all the fragments I could find, Arranged and patched them up — the harp is small, But in it not a single piece profane. I fotyid the strings — a pity, not quite all — All tangled and all coated thick with rust. I cleaned and straightened them as best I could, Restrung the harp, and, as you see, I play. (He thrums the strings’to demonstrate their timbre) Ihey sound a little weak, but yet these strings Once sounded ’neath the hands of those most pure, Most holy prophets unforgettable. There is not one new string among them all, All old . .. a shame, that so many were lost. TIRZAH: The harp lacks, strings, the singer too, lacks words. Thou hast told me, how to the prophet’s voice These rujns once responded. But I heard How thou, the singer, wouldst the echo be To these same ruins here. Give me the harp! (She takes the harp from the hands of the astonished singer) These sacred ruins serve but to our shame! Once living, these strings groan but heavily Beneath the dead touch of thy soul as dead. The living words, like wind among dead leaves, But rustle to the fruitage of thy lips. I challenge thee, O relic sanctified — There still may be some miracle by God, That shall for thee find a more worthy hand, And wake in thee, not merely tinkling sound, But J;hy eternal soul. Till then, repose! Now let the sacred river guard thee well! (With a wide swing, she casts the harp far into the Jordan) SINGER: O maniac! Possessed! What doest thou? TIRZAH: Find for thyself new words, new strings, or else Keep silent — for the graveyards do not sing. SINGER: Help, help! A holy relic will be lost! # (With loud lamentations, he rushes toward the Jordan, followed by some of the people who have started up at his cries) SINGbR: Help, help! A holy relic will be lost! bilSI GbR: Swim after it! Lay hold of it! Catch it! It’s sunk down to the bottom! . . . Bring a net! FISHERMAN: it’s sunk right down! Too bad! No use to seek — JLhou’lt never reach the bottom here . . . too deep. (He shouts to the Singer, who is preparing to plunge into the river) Stay there, turn back, or thou wilt drown thyself! SINGER (rushes at Tirzah followed by a crowd of awakened people) And likewise, I’ll drown thee, thou criminal! VOICE (from the crowd) Come, drown her! drown her! She hath dared to cast A relic of God’s Zion in the stream 1 (They drag Tirzah toward the river, tear her garments, spit upon her, the fishe.rboys throw handfuls of mud at her, while others tie her hands) YOUNG SAMARITAN PROPHET (comes running from a tree be neath which he had been praying) Help, men of Israel! Behold these Jews Are trying here to drown a guiltless maid! (Samaritans run hither from all directions, fight with the Jews and release Tirzah) SAMARITANS: To drown a maid? Wherefore? What is her crime? JEWS: Tis sacrilege! SAMARITAN PROPHET: A worthless set of strings! (The Samaritans laugh, the Jews rage, the fight becomes hot ter. A Levite stands to one side looking calmly on) (To be continued) CULTIVATING AND MODERNIZING UK RAINIAN CULTURE Continued from page 6) to bar this large group from en joying their rightful heritage of Ukrainian music, literature and art. True, steps have already been taken to remedy this situa tion in some localities, but its ef fects will not be felt for several years yet. In the meantime we have thousands of young Ukrain ian Americans of numerous tal ents and skills who would like to join our ranks in furthering Uk rainian culture, but hesitate to do so because of the language barrier. Even for those who understand Ukrainian and are eager to use their new talents in developing our arts find, in doing their ne cessary researclx work, that the language barrier stops them too —no dictionaries. True too, there will be a good English-Ukrainian dictionary, we hear, but that will not materialize for several years. You have probably encounter ed this problem in your own home town, when organizing some Ukrainian cultural activity. Perhaps in producing a Ukrain ian operetta, like the one staged in New York last May at the Uk rainian Music and Dance Festival. You have any number of young people with traditionally fine singmg voices, ready and willing to sing in the choruses. You have excellent professional soloists from whom to chose for your main roles. Time comes to learn the words. Too many cannot read Ukrainian. The words must be written in phonetics. You need authentic research material for your story. Old books in libraries here on the subject of folk cus toms of the period you are inves tigating are written in Ukrain ian. There are, of course, Ukrain ian intellectuals in the vicinity always willing to help you out with explanations, but they can not live forever. You need au thentic costumes. Research again. In Ukrainian books. All proving that we need an authenticated source of material on Ukrainian culture — in English. ipespite your difficulties, you are pleased to find that hosts of talented young musicians, writ ers, designers, artists, and even technicians, like electricians, make-up men, costumers, stage hands — are all eager to offer their services, giving rise to the certainty that fine productions can be staged by Ukrainians. Also in the music field — take the simple case of a new club whose members are mostly teen age Ukrainian Americans. They want to learn Ukrainian songs, to sing for the pure enjoyment of singing. Almost all members cannot read the Ukrainian lan guage and some do not know where to obtain copies of songs. The Youth’s League can help es tablish a center for distributing community folk song books and even choral compositions. (To be continued) Perhaps the most valuable re sult of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do when it has to be done, whether you like it or not. Huxley. * * * Those who have stood out for the better and higher values in this world have always had to tread the rough way. There is al ways opposition from the selfish. George Matthew Adams.
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