Monday Music: Prayer for Ukraine (Ukrainian Chorus Dumka of New York)

The free world hurts for Ukraine and many have rallied to her cause, inspired by a people who will not roll over to a bully, and a president who stands with his people rather than fleeing in exile. 

Taras Shevchenko was Ukraine's most prominent 19th-century poet. He had been born a serf but was granted freedom while a student in St. Petersburg. In 1859, he wrote a poem that is still timely in this time of national struggle:

CALAMITY AGAIN​ by Taras Shevchenko (Translated by John Weir) Dear God, calamity again! ... It was so peaceful, so serene; We but began to break the chains That bind our folk in slavery ... When halt! ... Again the people's blood Is streaming! Like rapacious dogs About a bone, the royal thugs Are at each other's throat again.

 

Taras Shevchenko, "Calamity Again"​
"Mii Bozhe mylyi, znovu lykho!"
("Мій Боже милий, знову лихо!")
1859, S.- Petersburg (Санкт-Петербург)

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This past weekend, Saturday Night Live, instead of its usual opening comedy sketch, stood in solidarity with Ukraine when they featured the Ukrainian Chorus Dumka of New York performing “Prayer for Ukraine.”

 

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