Voice of Ukraine

From Ira Kapitonova in Kyiv (Day 483):

The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
he frustrates the plans of the peoples.
The counsel of the Lord stands forever,
the plans of his heart to all generations.
Psalm 33:10‭-‬11

We visited a local library today. Our son loves this activity and is happy there’s more time for it during the summer break. While he was browsing the books, I also found something of interest.

The library got a special gift — the books that were forbidden during the Soviet times. Someone found them with the help of long-ago immigrants in a small library in Australia.

It wasn’t unusual for such books to be smuggled into Soviet Ukraine, hidden in secret suitcase compartments. The books would then be secretly passed around, hoping the authorities wouldn’t find out.

Among the books I saw today is a 1930 novel published in Winnipeg. It was written by a Greek Orthodox priest and is called “Azor: Stories from the Days of Jesus Christ.” Of course, any religious literature was banned in the Soviet Union.

Another book is a Ukrainian-English pocket edition of a poem, “Love Ukraine.” The author, Volodymyr Sosiura, comes from the Donetsk region. The poem was written in 1944 as a joyful celebration of Kyiv’s liberation from the Nazi occupation. However, it was banned in 1951 for “bourgeois nationalism” — a term used by the Soviets to refer to anything non-Russian that they viewed as a threat to the entire existence of the USSR’s communist regime.
Here’s the English translation of this poem that was shared by the British embassy several years ago (I slightly shortened it, but the full version is found here — https://cutt.ly/8wtOabEP):

Love our Ukraine in your dreams and awake
Love her as a cherry in blossom
Her beauty eternal, her language that rings
Like a nightingale’s song in the orchard

Love our Ukraine, as the sun love her
As the wind, the grass, the waters
Love her in the moments of joy and bliss
As well as in the moments of sorrow

Without her, we’re nothing, just cinder and dust
That has been dispersed all around
Love our Ukraine with all of your heart
As well as your thoughts and your talents

For us in this world, she’s the only one
Ukraine with her eyes sober brown
She is in the stars, in the willows and winds
In all our hearts, small and grown

She is in the flowers, the birds, palisades
In all of our songs and in dumas
She is in the smile of a child, maiden’s eyes
In the crimson of battle flags flying

[…]

She’s cannonade’s roar that chases away
Our foes in their green uniforms
In rifles we hold firmly on our way up
Towards spring, so sincere and delightful

[…]

Love her in trouble, in joy, even war
As guns are all opening fire
Just love your Ukraine, and your spirit will soar
And stay with her always inspired!