Page:The Kobzar of the Ukraine.pdf/52

Cheerful and happy as she'd married a lord
Who'd buy up villages just at her word.
She in the house and out doth work
From morning light to evening's mirk.

And yet the child is her special care;
Whatever befalls, she's the mother there.
Nor Monday nor Sunday this mother misses
To give its bath and its white dresses.
She plays and sings, makes waggons and things,
And on a holiday, plays with it all the day.

Wondering, the old folks gaze,
But to God they give the praise.

So the servant never rests,
But the night her spirit tests.
In her chamber then, I ween,
Many a tear she sheds unseen.
Yet none knows nor sees it all
But the little Mark so small.

Nor knows he why in hours of night
His tossings break her slumbers light.
So from her couch she quickly leaps,
The coverings o'er his limbs she keeps.
With sign of cross the child she blesses,
Her gentle care her love confesses.