Zapovit, is also great...
ZAPOVIT:
As Soon I die , You should to buried Me, in grave in place, where I can see blood of enemy of Ukraine would be carry away by river Dnepr into black see, after that I will go to God for pray, but until it take place – I wish to do not know the God.
T.G. Shevchenko
What part of it you think is “great”?
This is the zapovit I am referring to:
Як умру, то поховайте
Мене на могилі
Серед степу широкого
На Вкраїні милій,
Щоб лани широкополі,
І Дніпро, і кручі
Було видно, було чути,
Як реве ревучий.
Поховайте та вставайте,
Кайдани порвіте
І вражою злою кров’ю
Волю окропіте.
І мене в сем’ї великій,
В сем’ї вольній, новій,
Не забудьте пом’янути
Незлим тихим словом.
Translated to mean something like this (only it flows and rhymes much better in Ukrainian):
When I die, bury
Me in a grave
In the middle of the wide steppe
In my gentle Ukraine,
So that the vast fields
And the Dnipre River and slopes
One can hear, one can see
As it roars (referring to the river.)
Bury me and rise up
Break your chains
And with courageous blood
Freedom gain.
And me, in the large family
In the free and new family,
Don’t forget to remember me
With a quiet and peaceful word.
I was never aware of the line you quoted...although I have searched and found that you are correct, there is such a version. We NEVER sing that, and it was news to me.
However, before you judge the author of those words, you need to know in what situation he found himself at the time. The man was imprisoned, tortured, belittled...all for being Ukrainian. You cannot judge the desperation he found himself in - cold, alone, hungry and imprisoned simply for want of freedom. His whole life was one tragedy after another...after another...after...
Who of us has never sinned? Don't judge him. We are not worthy to judge this man. Until you have suffered as he did, and found yourself to be as desperate and lost...you cannot possibly understand his words.
However, let it be known that those lines have never, ever, been repeated in my life. I have never heard them, until I searched and found them. They are never part of the Zapovit that we remember on his memorial day.
