Skip to content
Call Us Today! 212-533-4646 | MON-FRI 12PM - 4PM (EST)
DONATE
SUBSCRIBE
Search for:
About Us
UNWLA 100
Publications
FAQ
Annual Report 2024
Annual Report 2023
Annual Report 2022
Annual Report 2021
Initiatives
Advocate
Educate
Cultivate
Care
News
Newsletters
Sign Up For Our Newsletter
Join UNWLA
Become a Member
Volunteer With Us
Donate to UNWLA
Members Portal
Shop to Support Ukraine
Search for:
Print
Print Page
Download
Download Page
Download Right Page
Open
1
2-3
4-5
6-7
8-9
10-11
12-13
14-15
16-17
18-19
20-21
22-23
24-25
26-27
28-29
30-31
32-33
34-35
36-37
38-39
40
Kostenko ventures to give a voice to Nature. In one instance, Nature is a wild rose laden with red berries. As people gather the "wild rose berries" for winter "rose hip tea," she grabs them with her thorns and begs them: "Wait! You are not alone! there is this bird to whom I promised some berries!" "... Людино, підожди! О підожди, людино, будь ласка. Одна пташина так мене просила! Я ж тут для всіх, а не для тебе лиш.” [Poem 17:3-7 (336)] The cranes are long gone but who can forget their parting call? Kostenko tries to imitate them: " А ми вас, а ми вас, ми а ми вас кли-ка-ли!" [Poem 19:4-5 (338)] "But we were, but we were, we - but we were calling you! Nature’s dance of Death or the "dance macabre" begins as the Sun slowly disappears and the days become shorter; Saint Vitus, patron of epileptics, seems to have a hand in the cold which make everyone shiver, as Nature undresses, people look for their winter clothes. "Стриптизи осені, і дріж святого Витта, і самотканий дощ, і сонця лиш на чверть”. [Poem 20:1-3 (339)] “Fall’s strip tease And Saint Vitu’s Shivers And home woven rain and sun reduced to a fourth...” The cold weather has brought people indoors looking for warm clothes. These very clothes inspire the poet's endless metaphors: "Fall... sews with the bare fields an unfinished shirt made of mist" [Poem 1:4 (320)], "here is the road embroidered in gold." [Poem 16:7 (335)]. Indoors, the poet looks through the window pane: the sight of the rain and the weeping willow inspires her to compose the most melodious of the twenty-seven poems of Autumn Carnivals: ”Ті журавлі, і їх прощальні сурми... Натягне дощ свої осінні струни, Торкне ті струни пальчиком верба. Зіграй мені осінній плач калини. Зіграй усе, що я тебе прошу. [Poem 6:1,3-4,9-10(325)] "Those cranes and their parting "surma"calls... ...The rain will tighten its autumn strings And the weeping willow will touch them with its finger. Play for me the Fall song of the snow-ball-berry-red "kalyna" Play everything I beg of you to play." Cold is brought by the wind that mercilessly watches over every leaf left on the trees, especially the oak tree. This oak tree of the Polisia reminds us of the oak tree in Usova Pisnia (1911) by Lesia Ukrainka. "Mavka" embodies the forest and in the Fall she dies while her human lover, Lukash, sadly plays the flute: ’’Чатує вітер на останнє листя старого дуба, що своїм корінням тримає схили урвища...” [Poem 24:1-3 (343)] “The winds lies low and waits for the last leaf of the old oak tree standing, roots holding tight, on the slope of the precipice...” Then the poet recounts the drama which began with the birch tree [Poem 25]; then the forest became "all numb" [Poem 26]: "Біднесенкий мій ліс, він зовсім задубів! Біднесенкий мій ліс хіба уже пора?” [Poem 26:1-9 (345)] And in the last poem, Kostenko addresses the forest which the Mavka embodied in Usova Pisnia. ’’Моя княгине! Ти ідеш вмирати, піднявши вгору стомлене лице... Старі дуби, спасибі вам за це”. [Poem 26:1-9 (345)] “My dear princess! You are dying, Nobly lifting your tired face. Dear old oak trees, thank you for all of this.” Poems by their nature gives the reader a sense of belonging to the universal. However there are poems which by the landscape they describe also bring a definite picture of a place that is very unique. In this collection, it is definitely the presence of the parting cranes, the thief of Baghdad, and images of the Polisia Forest-in-the Fall which create lasting pictures of Autumn in Ukraine. Two poems in particular leave a lasting impression on the reader: the first one entitled "Destitute Fall" presents Winter as a young Kozak on a white horse addressing Fall depicted as an old woman on the road, a "baba" whom he respectfully calls "auntie":
Page load link
Go to Top
1 
2-3 
4-5 
6-7 
8-9 
10-11 
12-13 
14-15 
16-17 
18-19 
20-21 
22-23 
24-25 
26-27 
28-29 
30-31 
32-33 
34-35 
36-37 
38-39 
40 
