Shevchenko’s Song

Shevchenko’s Song
From the new book by Walter William Melnyk and James Stanley Melnyk: Ukraina, Songs of a Beloved Land. Available soon on CreateSpace.com and Amazon.com

Quiet waters flow beneath hillside high,
swallows glide, swoop and dive,
catch their noonday meal on the fly.
The hillside echoes with their cry,
singing, singing for Shevchenko,
who from his poet’s song now rests.

As with Shevchenko, this place holds my soul
captive – its green hills, and soil dark,
and gentle Dnipro flowing by.
And like Shevchenko’s song, Dnipro flows free,
winding through Ukraine’s heart,
ever moving to the sea.

Dnipro keeps its steady pace,
never changing, ever new her race.
Birthed by icy snows and cooling rains,
rushing down wooded mountainside
past ever-deepening rocky ledge
toward Black Sea’s always restless tide.

Dnipro’s waters run strong and true,
her swirling currents the darkest blue,
like early evening’s darkening sky.
Shevchenko’s song – Ukraine’s heart –
restless tide - poet’s heart and longing sigh.

Jim Melnyk, 7/18/2006
Asheville, NC