Saturday Rave: A little cloud swims to the sun by Taras Shevenko.

 Taras Shevenko, 1814 - 1861 survived an upbringing of sorrow, poverty, and cruelty to become an artist and poet whose work is revered and celebrated in his homeland of Ukraine to this day.

Here's a self-portrait:

He was born a serf, which was a sort of slave, when Ukraine was part of the Russian Empire. His mother died when he was very young, and by the time he was seven his father had died doing forced work. Taras was left to the care of a cruel stepmother. He found work herding sheep and as a servant at a school, all the time trying to find a drawing master who would teach him.

A change in the ownership of his village saw Taras become a servant to this new owner, and opportunities to paint increased. Eventually Taras went with his new landlord to St Petersberg, where Taras met various artists who arranged a raffle of a portrait of the Russian poet Vasily Zhukovsky, donated by Karl Briullov, and with the proceeds they bought Taras's freedom.

I can hardly believe that such a life could be possible such a short time ago.

Taras Shevenko began writing poetry while he was still a serf. Here's a short poem, translated by Vera Rich.

A Little Cloud Swims To The Sun

(За сонцем хмаронька пливе)

A little cloud swims to the sun,
With all her crimson borders trailing,
And beckons to the sun to sleep 
And covers it with rosy veiling,
Cradled in the dark blue sea,
As a mother lulls her child...
Lovely to the eyes... And now,
It seems, the heart is still,
For one little hour of rest,
With God speaks quietly...
Like an enemy, the mist 
Falls upon the sea 
And the little rosy cloud,
Darkness in its wake 
The grey mist rolls and billows out,
And the silent dark
Throws its shroud upon the soul,
And you don’t know where to wander,
Longing, longing for the light,
Like small children for their mother.

**

Longing, longing for the light/ Like small children for their mother.

It breaks the heart.

Word To Use Today: crimson. This word comes from the Old Spanish cremesin, from the Arabic qirmizi, red of the kermes. Kermes is an insect which yields a red dye.