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Other trees and vegetation are also present in love poems, and lovers address them as they would address people, as close friends who have witnessed their encounters and their love. Among these we find the “kalyna” (the gilder-rose), the “khmel” (hop), the birch tree, the poplar tree, the pine tree and the weeping willow. Often they are associated with the epxression of sadness or the ending of an unhappy love. The “hayi” or green groves on the edges of the fields or by the banks of rivers are also associated with love encounters. Invariably connected to the sour cherry tree orchards are the vineyards which are a metaphor for young girls of child bearing age. Fauna is also represented in Ukrainian love poems. Horses which roam the steppes are a metaphor for the wealth of true love. Doves are symbols of endearment. Bees symbolize men’s attraction to women’s beauty. Birds in the “hayi”, especially the nightingale, are the witnesses to secret love encounters. It is said that the birds mate only once and are faithful to one companion. And, as with the periwinkle, the nightingale is addressed as one would address a person, enjoined to sing either in joy or sorrow as Maksym Rylsky (1895-1964) suggests in his poem “Late Nightingales” (1951). The Sping has finished its wassailing For cherry blossom wedding time, The fruitful earth’s already sailing In Summer’s harbor, moored its lines. Already ripe the barley ears It seems the time has come to leave Behind the wild songs of young years So sages would have us believe. The young soon grow and wish to rove, The coming Spring to them belongs And then throughout the wooded grove They too will love and sing their song. But in the silver pussy willow I have a secret company Whose hearts defy time’s prose — still mellow Late nightingales sing there for me. Since most of the lovers’ encounters are at night, it is not surprising that the stars, the moon and the rising sun be part of the picture. The lover compares his love to the stars and she in turn outshines them all. For her, he is the moon or the rising sun which suggests brightness, dignity, strength, uniqueness and nobility. A poet who bestowed on Ukrainian classic literature one of the most beautiful love poems based on the image of heaven is Volodymyr Sosiura (1898-1966) in his poem “To Maria” (1931). If we were to multiply the love of mankind, The love that was, that is, and will be, It would be pitch dark ... my love is bright as day... Nobody has yet experienced such feeling. If we were to bring down all the stars from heaven All the suns of all the heavens of the universe, My love would burn brighter than All the suns of the millennium of ages... If were were to gather all the flowers of all the planets That the winds rock at dawn, The scent of my love would be stronger Than all the flowers through eternity. If we were to reunite all the beautiful women of time And let them pass by me in an endless file, Maria, I would not even glance at them. No other would I choose, my song is for Maria. If all those lovely eyes were melting into one glance And shining in the midst of stars, It could not possiblly cast a spell on me, None could possible equal the gaze of your eyes. From which star did you fall down here, My companion, my dear friend, my wife? Brighten my life, brighten it always dimming all other stars, My one and only star forever! Ultimately, it is the theme of the forest which embodies the theme of love itself because it harbors secrets. In the poem “The Forests’s Secret” from his collection of poems M a g ic D e e r (1965), the poet Roman Lubivskyi rings the forest to life, giving a voice to the trees, the leaves and the flowers as if they were people. The forest is just like a village; Nature whispers and gossips, but the wind, as a strong master, imposes silence because to survive, love must be kept secret. “Do not tell anyone about this!”. Begged the wind to the spruce, And the spruce to the leaves, And the leaves to the flowers About that which in the forest, at night... And so to this day no one knows About that, that in the forest, at night, When all the decent trees All the innocent leaves All the well-behaved flowers are sleeping, Someone does not! But everyone wonders, who is he who walks the forest? And looks for the magic plant? And beats the path under the light of the moon? And makes predictions on the early starts? And to whom is he whispering ... and about what? And whom is he kissing ... and when? If “The Forest’s Secret” is set up like a humorous mini drama, another piece of classic Ukrainian literature of the XXth century, The F o re s t S o n g (1911), presents a woman writer and poet, Laryssa Kosach Kvitka (1871- 1913) under the pseudonym Lesia Ukrainka. In her play, Lesia Ukrainka fills the stage with mermaids, forest 16 ’НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, ЛЮТИЙ 1996 Видання C оюзу Українок A мерики - перевидано в електронному форматі в 2012 році . A рхів C У A - Ню Йорк , Н . Й . C Ш A.
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