30 Days of Ukrainian Poetry - Day 26 - "Sharp Eyes Open into the Dark"

Hello there, Day 26! Although we are in the final few days of this challenge, there are still many poets I have not found out about. I made a point today of finding somebody whose work I haven't read yet, and some googling led me to Olena Teliha. I was reading a list of Ukrainian women poets, and recognized her name because I think I have somewhere seen a street named after her, although I don't recall exactly when or where.

Olena Teliha did a lot of moving around in her life. She was born in Russia to a Ukrainian-Belorussian family, lived at various times in Poland (both in Warsaw and in Krakow) and also in what was at the time Czechoslovakia. She met her death in Kyiv, where she had secretly moved while it was under German occupation during World War II. Like many Ukrainian poets, she was killed - although not by Soviet authorities, but rather by the Nazis. She and her fellow writers publishing illegally in Kyiv were all rounded up and arrested in an ambush by the Gestapo. Her husband wasn't a writer - he was an engineer - but he lied and said he was a writer so that he could be taken with her. The date of their death isn't known for sure, but given the number of Ukrainian writers massacred at Babi Yar, a ravine-turned-mass-grave on the edge of Kyiv, in February 1942, February 21st has been established as a day to honor and remember Olena Teliha and her husband.

Below you can see footage of a remembrance ceremony in Kyiv by a monument to Olena Teliha, and also some archival footage from her life.

According to a bibliography of translations published in the online journal Ukrainian Literature, an English translation of today's poem exists in the anthology A Hundred Years of Youth: A bilingual anthology of 20th century Ukrainian poetry. Unfortunately, I have no way to access this translation without buying a print copy of the book, and even doing that seems difficult. It's not on Amazon, and no sellers are listed by Google Books. It seems the best way to get at it would be to go to a library in Germany or Poland, but that certainly isn't happening today. Anyway, in the Google Books preview I can at least see the first two lines of the poem, and it looks like it is probably a good translation. The title they give is somewhat different than my more literally translated one, but I don't wish to copy them, so I'm sticking with my own, less poetic rendition. Even in a choppy translation that lacks the rhyme of the Ukrainian original, it is still a powerful piece.

Гострi очi розкритi в морок

Олена Теліга

Гострi очi розкритi в морок,
Б'є годинник: чотири, п'ять…
Моє серце в гарячих зморах,
Я й сьогоднi не можу спать.

Але завтра спокiйно встану,
Так, як завжди, без жодних змiн,
I в життя, як в безжурний танок,
Увiйду до нiчних годин.

Придушу свiй невпинний спогад.
Буду радiсть давати й смiх.
Тiльки тим дана перемога,
Хто й у болi смiятись змiг!

Sharp Eyes Open into the Dark

Olena Teliha 

Sharp eyes open in the dark,
The click is ticking: four, five...
My heart is in hot nightmares,
Again today I cannot sleep.

But tomorrow I will calmly get up,
Yes, like always, without any changes,
And to life, like to a carefree dance,
I will go until the evening hours.

I will suppress my ceaseless memory.
I will give joy and laughter.
Victory is given only to those
Who can laugh through the pain!

The views and experiences expressed in this blog are mine alone and are not indicative of the views of Peace Corps, the US government, or the government of Ukraine.