2021.04.01.
Ah, Ukrainian sweet cherry
On a moonlit May night,The Bogun regiment1 went forward,
And in the cherry gardens
Sings a little nightingale.
On sorrel and chestnut horses
They rush towards Kiev
To attack Semyon Petlyura,
To attack his units.
Chorus:
Crushed the white gangs
Has our gigantic force.
Oh, you early-ripened cherry,
Ah, Ukrainian sweet cherry!
That is not a hand
Plucking the sonorous kobza2, —
That is Shchors ordering: 'Lads,
Open fire!'
They scared away the little nightingale,
The little nightingale became silent...
As the bullets rained down
Onto Petlyura's regiment!
Chorus.
Oh, the Haydamaks'3 blood
Flows on the road.
Don't touch our huts,
Don't tear off our cherries!..
A call is heard in Bogun's land4,
Shchors is dashing towards Kiev,
He's tearing off a full hand
Of both sweet cherries and cherries!
Chorus.
/additional couplet/
Shchors dreamed: 'Ukraine
Will breathe freely!'
Shchors dreamed: 'Ukraine
Will throw off the yoke of corvée!'
And, as a mighty army,
We now have set out
To liberate from prison
Our western brothers...
- 1. The regiment commanded by Shchors was named after Bohun.
- 2. a stringed musical instrument used in Ukraine, Moldova and Romania
- 3. In this case, the word refers to certain Ukrainian forces that fought against the Bolsheviks.
- 4. The original says 'Bogunia'. I do not know of any place with such name, so my assumption is that this means 'Bogun's land'.