Alesia
Янка КупалаВедах беларускіх
Translated by Vera Rich
The cuckoo called ever.
In the greenwood, incessant,
A mother watched over
Her daughter, Alesia.
The pinewoods were singing,
At morn and eve sighing,
Over cradle of linden
She sang, lullabying.
‘Hushabye, ‘tis the hour,
When the songbirds all slumber,
Hushabye, dearest flower,
Lullabye, lulla-lulla!
Do not stir, slumber sweetly,
The hour comes soon after,
When you’ll stand on your feet,
My own dearest daughter.
You will spin finest linen,
At the loom will weave gaily,
Gaze in your young springtime
At good fortune, daily!‘
The cuckoo called ever
In the greenwood, incessant,
And mother dreamed never
What life held for Alesia.
How when full strength had come to
Her mother’s dear daughter,
She flew to the sun, on
A bird’s plumage soaring.
The maiden flew swiftly,
In her fleet aircraft going,
O’er smiling land lifted,
Her own land, below her.
And she opened the doors to
The heavenly highway,
And like hawk, down from soaring
Comes the parachute flying.
To the sun in an instant,
And high, higher ever,
In her aeroplane winging
The stormclouds she severed.
Night and day, mother waiting
Vainly grieves at the window,
From the sun flies the maiden
Never back to her spindle.
The cuckoo called ever
In the greenwood, incessant,
But mother dreamed never
What life held for Alesia.