Kryhitka, Under the Spring Rain
In 2007, after the dissolution of Kryhitka Tsahes following the death of guitarist Mykhailo “Mikhon” Gichan, the band members decided to continue their creative journey and created a new project, Kryhitka. The band became a headliner at many rock festivals in Ukraine, and their first studio album, Retsept (2009), gained significant popularity among listeners. Since then, the band has only released singles, leaving fans waiting nearly 15 years for a new album. In 2024, their wish finally came true—Kryhitka presented their album Megalubov. Here is an English translation by Oleksandra Pavliv of the lyrics to Under the Spring Rain (Pid vesnyanym doshchem), a song from this album originally written by Olena Herasymyuk. The band dedicated this work to Ukrainian artists and cultural figures who lost their lives to the Russian invasion.
Under the Spring Rain
I don’t want to feel anymore –
Every loss cuts to the core...
I don’t want to meet or see –
Every loss takes you from me...
I don’t want to love or be friends –
Every loss that never ends...
I don’t want to stay or flee –
Every loss haunts endlessly...
Shine the yellow sun so bright,
No one can erase our light!
I catch the final sunbeam,
I catch your fading dream,
Like a bullet through my heart...
Not warmth, just memory’s trace,
I feel you near this place:
In lightning’s sudden flare,
In thunder’s echoing prayer,
And under the spring rain...
Can’t count, can’t measure –
Every loss steals someone treasured...
Can’t forgive, can’t share –
Every loss brings despair...
Can’t forget or understand
Who’ll be next to leave this land...
Can’t believe or accept fate –
Every loss leaves wounds that ache...
I feel – the world is bare,
Yet I seek you everywhere...
Appear to me in shadow’s den,
Appear to me once again,
Or in strangers’ faces lost...
Your memory’s a warm ray,
Your heart loved night and day!
Let spring’s flood rise and flow,
Wash away this endless woe...
I don’t want to feel anymore –
Every loss is another war...
I don’t want to hope or wait –
Every loss seals cruel fate...
I don’t want to dream or grieve –
Every loss is hard to believe...
I don’t want to fall and lie –
Every loss makes me cry...
The world spins in silence deep,
Our fates are poems that weep...
Tomorrow, others will find love,
Tomorrow, under the skies above,
But not us, not you and I...
Only loneliness remains,
To heal or share these pains,
To pull this blade from my heart,
As white snow falls apart...
Translated from the Ukrainian by Oleksandra Pavliv (Олександра Павлів)
The translation by Oleksandra Pavliv (Олександра Павлів), the student of Sumy State University, took first place in the category “Translation of a Ukrainian Song into English” at the IX Student Translation Contest “Translation as a Key to Cultural and Linguistic Worldviews,” held in March 2025 by the Department of Applied Language Studies, Comparative Linguistics and Translation at the Mykhailo Dragomanov State University of Ukraine.
