QUESTIONS WITHOUT ANSWERS

Where has the young boy gone who once was me?..
Is old age a reward or penalty?..
How do old birds and fishes pass away?..
Do trees and flowers appreciate what I say?..

What do green treetops sing to summer breeze?..
Is sudden death a hardship or an ease?..
Why does my heart cry out in autumn night?..
What star will send me her comforting light?..

O young and charming beauty, in grief I have to tell:
Demanded by my duty, to thee I bid farewell;
This time, perhaps, I'll perish in an unequal fight,
But thou, I know, willst cherish the memory of thy knight.

Perhaps in blooded saddle my horse will carry me
Away from bloody battle to an expanded tree;
I'll rest beneath its blossom, and my pelisse will gleam,
Unfastened at my bosom, in golden sunset beam.

And soothing and caressing will be that final sight,
And I'll receive a blessing from its departing light;
Soft breeze will tell a story and whisper me thy name
As I will pass to glory and everlasting fame.

MANY-MANY A CRANE HAVE FLOWN
(Ukrainian folk-song)

Many-many a crane have flown
To a cornfield ploughed and sown.
Where a she-crane stepped her feet,
There the land gave birth to wheat.
Where a he-crane walked around,
Sprang corncockle from the ground.

Better is a maiden wife
Than a new one with a strife.
I got children of the first;
From the new one, they dispersed.

Father's walking in the loam
Calling children back to home:
“Come, oh children, come, approach,
You'll receive no more reproach!”

“Live, oh father, live your life
With a young and beauteous wife.
We are taking our release
For the folk to serve and please.
We will earn our bread but free,
In dear mother's memory.”