epub

Janka Kupała

My native land

I'm bound to earth and sky by a thread wondrous strong,

Eternal gossamer that none can break or sever,

The earth caresses me, like her true son ever,

The bright sun holds my soul in its caresses long.

 

Even in my cradle I learned to know from song

Of all things close to me, of my home's narrow tether:

That I am but a millionth part from my field severed,

That the stars strike the sparks that bright in my heart throng.

 

Thus a native land I gained without strife or anger,

I grew with her, I'll not lay my bones among strangers,

I huddle to her close, as to my mother's breast,

 

And if someone should threaten me with harm or danger,

The threat upon my motherland is likewise pressed,

If he threaten her, I am the more distressed.

 

1915

 



Пераклад: Вера Рыч
Крыніца: Janka Kupała. Sonnets. Mastackaja litaratura, 2002.