ALSO SEE: Darya Zorka: From My Heart (Substack)

T

he events we witness right now are not new to Ukrainians. Throughout history, they experienced them all: Russian occupation and oppression; betrayal, indifference, and cowardice of the allies; violent deaths, mass graves, and grief; and endless fight survival and freedom. Today, I want to share five poems by Ukrainian writers that I translated from Ukrainian to English. Some were written almost a hundred years ago, some just recently. Read them, share them, and continue to stand with Ukraine.

Vasyl Sagaydak (1945-2006) – a Ukrainian poet, writer, and translator. He was oppressed for his pro-Ukrainian views and position by the Soviet (Russian) government for almost his entire life, which severely impacted his career and work.

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when published

A commandment
Vasyl Sagaydak 1990

Never let a barbarian on your doorstep, my son –
No matter if he comes with war or with sweet vows.
He will take your house, your bed, and your wife,
And will burn all your books at maidan.

He will bury your language in vocabularies and graves,
And everything you have right now, my son,
He will reweave thread by thread, rewrite word by word,
Rebuild stone by stone, and claim as his own.

*Maidan is a town square. The word originated in the Persian language and came to Ukraine from the Crimean Tatar language.

Oleksandr Oles (1878–1944) – a Ukrainian writer, poet, translator, and activist. Due to persecution for his pro-Ukrainian views, he was forced into immigration to Vienna. There, he headed the Union of Ukrainian Journalists and edited the Ukrainian magazine. His son, Oleh Olzhych, was a Ukrainian poet and political activist who returned to Ukraine and became head of the cultural branch of Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. For his pro-Ukrainian position, he was arrested, tortured, and killed in 1944.

Remember
Oleksandr Oles
1931

When fighting invaders for the right to exist,
Ukraine was living, suffering, and dying,
Sympathy – all it was waiting for,
But Europe was silent.

When bleeding to death in an unequal fight,
And crying its eyes out in anguish,
Ukraine was waiting for help from its friends,
But Europe was silent.

When chained and exhausted and being enslaved,
Wounded Ukraine was screaming in terror,
When even rocks were moved by its pain,
But Europe was silent.

When gathering harvest soaked in blood,
And giving it all to the ruthless tyrant,
Dying from famine, Ukraine lost its voice,
But Europe was silent.

When Ukraine cursed its life, that turned into a grave,
Filled with endless death and violence,
When even the devil was crying in grief,
– Europe was silent.

Lina Kostenko (1930-present) – is a Ukrainian poet, journalist, writer, and leading member of the Sixtiers poetry movement in Ukraine, which was against Soviet totalitarianism and focused on protecting Ukrainian culture and language. Kostenko’s work was not published for many years due to her pro-Ukrainian views and activism. Many members of the Sixtiers movement were arrested, sent to prison camps, and killed. Despite everything, Lina Kostenko continued to write and is considered one of the most prominent Ukrainian poets.

Lina Kostenko
2015

Despair, and blood, and death, and terror,
And predatory horde's aggressive howl,
A little gray man, evil bearer,
Brought devastating catastrophe.
A creature of disgusting breed,
Neva's Loch-Ness that no one knew.
The world, what are you waiting for?
It's us today, tomorrow – you.

*Neva is a river that runs through St. Petersburg, Putin’s hometown.

Victoria Amelina (1986-2023) – Ukrainian novelist, essayist, poet, and human rights activist. From 2022, she documented Russian war crimes and advocated for accountability. She was killed by a Russian missile in 2023. The book she was working on before her death, Looking at Women Looking at War: War and Justice Diary, has been recently published. You can purchase it here.

Victoria Amelina
2022

Why do you look like them? Maybe you are brothers?

No, our hands intertwined
not in a hug, but in a fight
Our blood was mixed with the soil
they took our harvest from
Our eyes cried with tears
that turned into ice
behind the gates of our warm cities
we were thrown out

Our language was burned alive
screaming on the Maidan
And we picked up the foreign one
as if someone else's gun
We learned from the books of our captors
All the paths in the prison labyrinth

Our mother cursed us
To look like the murderers
Not like our killed father
So we would die not in a slaughterhouse
But in the fight

So, when our fight begins
Don't ask us
Why do we look like those
who have been killing us for so long

***

Victoria Amelina
May 8, 2022

happy day of remembrance and reconciliation
an air alert
Ukrainians, please proceed to the shelter
all others can continue saying

never again