Original
Ви –суспільство
Ви хочете пожалітись на життя заставить !?Не стану Я цього робити , не стану!Я встану, з немочі встану,Та у спину тоді не кляніть .
Ви здатні усе, що росте – затоптати ,Не дати здійнятись, не дати...Приспати бажання, силу і дух ,Волю і честь приспати , приспати, приспати.
Ви здатні вибирати очі,Всім тим, хто ще бачить.Забирати душу, й у тіло набивати клоччя,І називати це опудало – зрячим !?!
Translation
You — Society
You want to force me to complain about life!?I won't do it, I — I won't!I'll rise — from weakness I will rise —and then don't curse me behind my back.
You're able to trample everything that grows,to keep it from rising, to keep it…To lull desire, and strength, and spirit,to lull will and honour — lull, lull, lull.
You're able to gouge out the eyesof all those who still see.To take the soul, and stuff the body with tow,and call that scarecrow — sighted!?!
About the poem
The most direct of the poems against society, spoken with a capital I. “You want to make me complain about life!? I won’t, I won’t!” Society tramples everything that grows, puts “desire, strength and spirit, will and honour” to sleep — “to sleep, to sleep, to sleep” — plucks out the eyes of those who still see, stuffs the body with tow “and calls this scarecrow — sighted!?!” The speaker will rise “from weakness.” The last stanza is quieter and sadder: all are “like stone, like sand, like clay… like a society, not like a person.” The repeated “I won’t” is the structural heart of the piece. Society is imagined as a force that flattens whatever grows, while the speaker defines himself through refusal. Individual dignity here is not quiet self-esteem but the decision to remain unassimilated.