Poetry
О Беларусь, мая шыпшына
Not translated into English
Uladzimir Dubouka · 1925
Synopsis
The poet addresses his country as he would a wild rose: “O Belarus, my wild rose”. Green leaf and red flower return as a refrain, and the wild flower, beautiful and armed with thorns, becomes the image of a land that endures and sacrifices itself. By contrast, wormwood carries bitterness and grief, while the I of the poem merges into the homeland it celebrates, in a solemn tone, almost that of a hymn.
Context
Dated 3 May 1925, the poem was published the same year in the review Malady araty. Later accused of nationalism, it could no longer be printed as it stood; in 1958, the author rewrote it following the remarks of several editors, and the dog rose in it became the wood rose, then, in another version, the homeland. A poet, Mikola Tseleš, claimed to be its author; Viktar Zhybul refuted this claim. The two-volume works published in Minsk in 2017 restored the first versions of the poems.
Who it is for
A short lyric poem in Belarusian, in the tone of a hymn, of which several versions exist; no French translation.
Prizes and reception
The emblematic poem of its author, often read as a hymn to the homeland, and by some as a prophecy of Chernobyl.
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