Emigrants' Song

There are in this world such far-rovers
Who believe not in God nor in devil,
Who delight in bright banners high over
The ships that in ocean ports revel.

They have none here to leave whom they cherish
For they have neither kin nor belongings,
They care not if they live or they perish,
On one sole aim are fixed all their longings:

To visit lands, so far unsought-for,
To taste there of fortune and grieving,
And to perish among the salt waters
Of blue seas where white foam is heaving.

But we do not seek such a bounty,
It is not far lands we are needing,
We would not have left our dear country
If there had been bread for our feeding.

And in clatter and noise of streets roaming,
Where the crowd, ever-restless, whirls streaming,
We dream of the village, the Nioman*,
And Libava** with harbour lights gleaming.

* Nioman is a principal river of Belarus.
** Libava (now Lepaya) is the Latvian port from which Belarusan emigrants regularly set sail.

Maxim Bahdanovich 1914