Page:The Kobzar of the Ukraine.pdf/26

In foremost boat the helm a-guiding,
Brave Hamaleia takes the lead.
"Oh, Hamaleia, our hearts are fainting,
Behold the sea in madness raving."
"Don't fear," he says, "these spurting fountains,
We'll hide behind the water mountains."

All slumber in the harem,
Byzantium's paradise.
Skutari sleeps, but Bosphorus
In madness shouts, "Arise!
Awake Byzantium!" it roars and groans.
"Awake them not, Oh Bosphorus."
Replies the sea in thunder tones.
"If thou dost I'll fill thy ribs with sand,
Bury thee in mud, change thee to solid land,
Perhaps thou knowest not the guest
I bring to break the sultan's rest."

So the sea insisted,
For he loved the brave Slavonic band;
And Bosphorus desisted,
While in slumber lay the Turkish land.
The lazy Sultan in his harem slept,
But only in Skutari the weary pris'ners wept.
For something are they waiting,
To God from dungeon praying,
While the waves go roaring by.

"Oh, loved God of Ukraine's land,
To us in prison stretch thy hand;