A DEDICATION
U8DKNKZHESE2
Oh brilliant Sun! Is there anyone
From whom you have withheld your bounteous ardour?
Who hasn't lain uncovered in your rays
In hope of rivalling sunny gold in colour?
Whose heart so uninspired it hasn't thrilled
With warmth to your unparalleled perfection?
Is there a madcap head the shining Orb
Has failed to pat with fatherly affection?
Oh say! Who hasn't pressed to tender heart
The flowers that your radiance embellished?
The sweetness of the berries you helped grow
Who hasn't tasted with a grateful relish?
Oh those who love the Sun from childhood on,
I certainly could not be an exception.
No matter what the song I write's about
To you it always is a dedication.
The past was gloomy and devoid of light
The Sun did not reach down to earth from heaven.
Those days you were not such a kindly friend
To homeless beggars and to starving have-nots.
Those days, oh Sun, you didn't belong to us.
You'd not stoop down to glance into the cellar,
And never did your glowing beams caress
The wretches bowed by unremitting labour.
Without the barest hope of meeting you,
We wrote our poems in comfortless dejection.
Oh, if a glance we could have once exchanged…
But even that was quite out of the question.B
ut now we, people, have a right to you.
From hereon you belong to us forever.
We are your freeborn fellow citizens,
A mighty sunlit and dynamic Power.
On behalf of all the people of the world,
Oh gracious life-sustaining luminary,
I herewith dedicate this song
To you and your abiding glory.
1935-1937
Translated by Lydia Kmetyuk
