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The Kobzar of the Ukraine

My Testament

Alexander J. (Alexander Jardine) Hunter translation

Illustration from The Kobzar of the Ukraine Being select poems of Taras Shevchenko done into English verse with biographical fragments by Alexander Jardine Hunter

When I die, remember, lay me

Lowly in the silent tomb,

Where the prairie stretches free,

Sweet Ukraine, my cherished home.

There, ’mid meadows’ grassy sward,

Dnieper’s waters pouring

May be seen and may be heard,

Mighty in their roaring.

When from Ukraine waters bear

Rolling to the sea so far

Foeman’s blood, no longer there

Stay I where my ashes are.

Grass and hills I’ll leave and fly.

Unto throne of God I’ll go,

There in heaven to pray on high,

But, till then, no God I know.

Standing then about my grave,

Make ye haste, your fetters tear!

Sprinkled with the foeman’s blood

Then shall rise your freedom fair.

Then shall spring a kinship great,

This a family new and free.

Sometimes in your glorious state,

Gently, kindly, speak of me.

First Burial Mound of the Poet.
First Burial Mound of the Poet.

First Burial Mound of the Poet.

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„Мово рідна, слово рідне,

Хто вас забуває,

Той у грудях не серденько

А лиш камінь має …”

Woman with rake and scythe dancing on field with flowers and grain.
Woman with rake and scythe dancing on field with flowers and grain.

Пишіть по наш Ілюстрований Катальоґ.

Ukrainska Knyharnia

Ukrainian Booksellers & Publishers Ltd.

Найстарша і Найбільше Довірена Українська Книгарня в Канаді.

656–660 MAIN STREET, WINNIPEG, MAN.

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Original Back Cover.
Original Back Cover.
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