To wield the lordly staff and mace?

Now is the time to wage the war

On hated Moscow, freedom's foe,

If Doroschenko, aged in years,

Or young Samoilovitch, the exile,

Palaeus brave, or Gordienko, -

Now ruled the warriors of Ukraine,

Cossacks would ne'er be left to die

In snow-wastes of a distant land;

Our troops no more would be compelled

To serve the cause of foreign rule."

Thus murmuring, the self-willed youths

The dangers of revolt would court,

Forgot their country's thraldom long,

Forgot Bogdan's successful rule,

The treaties, and the sacred war,

And all the fame of ancient times.

But old men walk with heedful care,

And calculate with cautious mind

What they should do, and what forbear,

Nor will they thoughtlessly decide.

What man can sound the depth of sea

Fast bound with massive thick-set ice?

Who hope with keenest eye to pierce

The cave profound of cunning heart,

Whose thoughts are fruit of passion crushed,

And hidden lie from common view,

Whilst secretly some cherished dream,

Perchance, is ripening all unseen?

Such none can know. The Hetman false

Was most deceitful, cunning, sly,

The simpler, more sincere, he seemed.

The franker and more true in act.

He knew the art to read, to win,