Main points
- Lina Kostenko celebrates her 96th birthday, her poems, which have not gained wide fame, still evoke special emotions in fans.
- In June last year, the poem “With Your Eyes You Told Me: I Love You” went viral online, drawing attention to sign language.
Poems by Lina Kostenko / Photo from the Internet
The soul of Ukrainian literature turns 96 today. Lina Kostenko created many works that people know by heart. But during the Soviet Union, the poetess was forced to write “in a drawer”, because that's how censorship worked.
Probably everyone has heard the famous poems “Wings” or “Terrible Words When They Are Silent”. But it is worth paying tribute to those lines that may not have gained wide fame, but are definitely known to Kostenko's fans. Today, Channel 24 will recall some lines that can evoke special emotions.
“Life goes on and everything goes on without corrections”
Life goes on and everything goes on without corrections.
And time flies, never slowing down.
The Marquise of Pompadour has been gone for a long time,
and we are already living after the flood.
I don't know what will happen after us,
in which nature will dress itself.
The only thing that never gets tired is time.
And we are alive, we need to hurry.
To do something, to leave something behind,
and we, nothing – we will pass like shadows,
If only the sky's eyes were blue
This land has always been seen in bloom.
So that these forests do not become extinct like the aurochs,
so that these words don't dry out like rust.
Life goes on and everything goes on without corrections,
and as you write, so it will be.
But don't be afraid of the annoying line.
Don't be afraid of insights, because they are like medicine.
Don't be afraid of the truth, no matter how bitter it is,
Do not be afraid of sorrows, even though they are like rivers.
Fear the soul of a man who deceives,
because if you make a mistake in this, it's forever.
“Life goes on and everything goes without corrections”: listen to the poem online
“I don't know if I'll see you or not”
I don't know whether I will see you or not.
Or maybe that's not the point.
And most importantly, somewhere far away
There is someone like an unquenchable thirst.
I will not call upon happiness that is not mine.
The echo of the echo does not reach there.
I'm thinking about you. I know you exist.
My soul is already shining from this.
***
“You're so quiet that you can overhear”
You are so silent that you can overhear,
drown in soft silence.
And if it weren't so worrying,
That would be wonderful for me.
I don't know if you're handsome.
and are you alone in the world?
You are like a true miracle to me, which
arose without reason.
But in the heart there is a warning,
and the word breaks out: “Go.”
Our paths crossed late,
There are already other traces on them.
I believe in your heart and will,
I believe in the truth of your eyes.
I know: you would never stumble
about the stones of my roads.
***
“I had them when I was a child”
I had them when I was a child.
such blue eyes,
how to remember,
that often even the white world
It seemed bluish to me.
And in that world there was no
not a shadow of black,
not a stain, –
only trust and warmth,
and the generous sun over the fields.
But it entered childhood days
unseen
and incredible until now –
red color of blood in war
and black is the color of human sorrow.
The eyes absorbed the new pieces.
The eyes became dark and gloomy.
They were,
like storm clouds,
when storms were rising in the world.
They were turning gray like smoke,
when fires tore the land apart
and black bullets for young boys
cold death was hastily dealt out…
Sweep,
Future,
grief and sorrow.
The living will not kill the living.
And to a whole generation on earth
The world will seem bluish.
***
“You can live in the world without standards”
You can live in the world without standards,
to see the world differently:
wide-eyed,
from under the palm of your hand,
through fingers,
in the window,
from behind the gate.
The world won't change a bit from that.
And it all depends on human pupils –
the entire era will be reflected in the broad ones,
in narrowed ones – a collection of trifles.
***
In June last year, Lina Kostenko's poem “With Your Eyes You Told Me: I Love You” went viral online. In the video, users recited the poem in sign language. Interestingly, this trend drew attention to sign language and the importance of learning it.