FAREWELL, FAREWELL, O FAIREST FLOWER!

Farewell, farewell, o fairest flower!
    Farewell, my joy, my very own! 
For I am destined from this hour
    To pine and suffer all alone.

The time has come for us to part;
    To go away from you must I. 
Sad premonitions wring my heart:
    How shall I live – where shall I die?

If flowers can't blossom without dew
    Nor even common thistles thrive, 
Nor tree stand, by an axe cut through,
    How can my wounded heart survive?

No dawn will bring tranquillity,
    No wind will dry the tears I weep,
Nor will the sun bring joy to me,
    Nor dark night lull poor me to sleep.

Like drops of dew from flowers fall,
    My bitter tears fall ceaselessly. 
Ah, grief and sorrow tear my soul,
    Yet nobody will pity me.

Perhaps the birch that knows no rest
    Alone my sighs forlorn will mind, 
Or a poor bird that lost its nest
    And nightly shelter cannot find.
 
A daily harvest I will reap
    Of tears from my sick bosom wrenched; 
And yet however much I weep
    The fire of love no tears will quench!

To heaven on love's wings I'll soar;
    Sweet soul, I'll find you anywhere! 
I loved you, and will love you more
    Till I'm laid low by my despair.

In dreams, down here with you'll be I
    While my poor spirit soars above. 
So loving, longing, let me die
    And God will bless me for true love.

Translated by Dorian Rottenberg

Born in a peasant family on the Anapole estate, Antanas Vienažindys went to school in Panevėžys and in 1864 graduated from the Varniai seminary. He was a priest in various Catholic parishes in Lithuania. In his poems he voiced the bitter feelings of the Lithuanian people during the oppresive years of reaction after the defeat of the 1863 uprising. His poetry was influenced by the style of folk song and he himself sang his verses to the accompaniment of a harmonium. The originator of a sad lyrical song-style in Lithuanian poetry, Vienažindys wrote many unpublished verses which became folk songs.