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CONTRA SPEM SPERO Hence, dark thoughts! Away, ye autumn mists! Gold spring is here, she's here today! Should my days of youth be spent in woe, Drearily and sadly pass away? Nay, through all my tears, I still will smile, Sing my songs though troubles round me loom; Hopeless, still hope against all odds, I will live! Away, ye thoughts of gloom! On this hard and integrate soil I’ll sow Flowers that shall bloom with colors rare; Flowers will I plant where frost doth reign, Water them with many a bitter tear. And these burning tears will soften then • All that ground so crusted, chill, malign, Flowers, then perhaps, will bloom and bring Joyous spring e'en to this heart of mine. Through the mountain side be rough and steep, Onward will I bear the ponderous stone; Struggling upwards ‘neath the crushing load; Still will I my joyous song intone. Through the long, dark night inscrutable Never will I close my wearied eyes, Searching ever for that guiding star — Radiant empress of the midnight skies. Yes, through all my tears I still will smile, Sing my songs through troubles round me loom; Hopeless, still hope against all odds, I will live! Away, ye thoughts of gloom! CONTRA SPEM SPERO Thoughts, away, you heavy clouds of autumn! For now springtime comes, agleam with gold! Shall thus in grief and wailing for ill fortune All the tale of my young years be told? No, I want to smile through tears and weeping, Sing my songs where evil holds its sway, Hopeless, a steadfast hope forever keeping, I want to live! You, thoughts of grief, away! On poor sad, fallow land, unused to tilling, I’ll sow blossoms, brilliant in hue, I’ll sow blossoms where the frost lies, chilling, I’ll pour bitter tears on them as dew. And those burning tears shall melt, dissolving All that mighty crust of ice away, Maybe blossoms will come up, unfolding Singing springtime for me, too, some day. Up the flinty, steep and craggy mountain A weighty ponderous boulder I shall raise, And bearing this dread burden, a resounding Song I’ll sing, a song of joyous praise. In the long dark ever-viewless night time Not one instant shall I close my eyes, I’ll seek ever for the star to guide me, She that reigns bright mistress of dark skies. Yes, I’ll smile, indeed, through tears and weeping, Sing my songs where evil holds its sway, Hopeless, a steadfast hope forever keeping I shall live! You thoughts of grief — away! Translated by Percival Cundy Translated by Vera Rich tions). Constantine Bida’s lengthy introduction is the most extensive study of Lesia Ukrainka’s life and work availa ble in English. Ukrainian-born and Vienna-educated Bida (1916-1979) was a professor at the University of Ottawa, in Canada. His study of Lesia Ukrainka is divided into three chapters: Life, Poetry, Drama. Bida describes the social and cultural environment in which Lesia Ukrainka grew up and developed, the various influences which helped form her life’s philosophy and her literary taste, and then he proceeds to analyze in considerable detail her lyrical and dramatic poetry and her dramas in verse. ’’Although it was in the dramatic genre that her talent was to achieve its finest and most profound expres sion,” writes Prof. Bida, “her lyrics represent not only a valuable contribution, but also a bold and important step forward in the evolution of Ukrainian poetry.” In 1988, a new volume appeared on the Ukrainian- American book market, Lesia Ukrainka in Translation. This book was edited by Villanova University Professor Natalia Pazuniak and published by Philadelphia’s Commemorative Committee to Honor Lesia Ukrainka It is a multi-lingual edition which includes translations into English, German, Spanish, French, Croatian, Por tuguese, and Italian. It includes a selection of such longer works as the dramatic poems In the Wilderness (translated into English by Roxolana Stojko-Lozynskyj and edited by Larissa M.L. Onyshkevych), and The Blue Rose (tranlated into German by E. Reisner), and the drama The Stone Host (translated into Spanish by Petro Kluk and Carlos Jimenz), as well as shorter lyrical poems and excerpts translated into French (by Olha Jacura-Repetylo), into Croatian (by Marian Procyk), into Portuguese (by Wira Wowk and Olena Kolody), and into Italian (by Vasyl Sapelak). The only English translation in this book, the dramatic poem In the Wilderness, extends the English language coverage of Lesia Ukrain ka’s dramatic poems beyond what is ready available in the two volumes discussed previously. It may be of spe cial interest to American readers: the action is set in a Puritan community in Massachusetts. In her English- language introduction to the polyglot volume, Natalia Pazuniak claims that "the inner conflict reflecting indi vidual choices,” the main theme of In the Wilderness, ’’may well make this dramatic poem one of the early examples of existentialist drama in Europe.” It is of interest to note that all three volumes were sponsored in one way or another by Ukrainian women’s organizations. It was also the organized Ukrainian wo men in the United States and Canada who are responsi ble for the Lesia Ukrainka monuments in Cleveland and Toronto. There is little doubt that a cult of Lesia Ukrainka exists among organized women in the Ukrainian di aspora.
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