ABM -- Poem (in English and Belarusian): "Far Off Afield. . ." by Nil Hilevic^ - - - - - - - - - - - - -

This File Last Updated: 2004/08/05

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Далёка ў полі. . .

Ніл Гілевіч

Далёка ў полі, на пагорках варненскіх,
Дзе не чутно курортнай гаманы,
Сімфонію часоў яшчэ даварварскіх
У трыста скрыпак граюць цвыркуны.
За кожным стоеным кустом і кусцікам,
На ўвесь прасцяг без межаў і граніц —
Азвончаная незямной акустыкай
Язычаская музыка грыміць!
Здаецца, свет увесь ёй зараз поўніцца.
Яна праходзіць праз мяне ўсяго:
Ты не забудзешся?
Табе запомніцца
На лісцях яблынь срэбнае сяйво?
Яна, здаецца, на зямлі не месціцца —
То адляціць увысь і прападзе,
То раптам зноў вяртаецца з-пад месяца
I ў глыб начы мяне далей вядзе.
Далей, далей, нязведанай сцяжынкаю,
Дзе водар жніўня соладка п'яніць,
Дзе векавечнай песняй старажытнаю
Сама зямля балгарская звініць.
Забуду многіх музыкантаў хвалёных,
Але й прад смерцю прыгадаю зноў —
Далёка ў полі, на пагорках варненскіх,
Язычаскія скрыпкі цвыркуноў.

Far off afield. . .

by Nil Hilevič

Far off afield in Varna's foothill area
Where not a sound from that resort may stray,
A symphony from the pre-barbarian era
Upon three hundred fiddles crickets play.
From every hidden clump of grass and bushes,
The whole expanse without a bar or bound,
Augmented by unearthly fine accoustics,
With heathen music rattles all around.
It seems the whole wide world at once is seething.
And through me runs that music of delight:
You won't forget?
You will remember seeing
The apple branches full of silvery light?
The music seems earth's confines to be spurning --
Here soaring high, there falling tired from play,
Here from beneath the moon again returning --
In night's profoundness leading me away.
Still farther,
farther,
on an unknown pathway,
Where August's fragrance inebriety brings,
Where with the immemorial song of laughter
Bulgaria's ancient earth itself now rings.
I shall forget musicians famed and various,
But I'll remember, at my very grave,
How far afield in Varna's foothill area
The pagan fiddles of the crickets played.

Publication & Date: 1966.

Source Credits:

Belarusian Version: Анталогія Беларускай Паэзіі, (pub. Мінск, 1993, page 79).
English Version: Fair Land of Byelorussia: An Anthology of Modern Byelorussian Poetry, (pub. Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1976, pages 119-20). Walter May, translator.

Web Manager's Comment: The topics of almost all poems on the A Belarus Miscellany Web site are about Belarus, usually expressed quite strongly. Thus far, this poem is probably the only exception, although many of Nil Hilevič's poems are about Belarus and especially about village life. Nil Hilevič is also very interested in other countries (according to Arnold McMillin, p. 118), and this poem is an example of a poem that expresses that interest.

Return to the Nil Hilevič Web page Go to the A Belarus Miscellany Topic List Go to the top of section about Books Go to the Belarusian Writers Web page

Search the A Belarus Miscellany Web site