***
You must be happy,
that’s your duty
to those who were
and to those who will be.
Every morning you have to go
somewhere, to someone,
you have to return at night,
bringing bread.
You have to embody all the dreams
and to love the best of us,
and also the worst,
who may be disgusting to you.
You have to return
what was given to you –
by someone, sometime, and for something.
You should not be a burden
to relatives, cousins, and friends.
You have to be a machine for life,
an eternal engine and a gold pin,
so as not to rust prematurely.
You have to.
Otherwise, what are you going to say there,
when they ask you severely,
like a pupil during a long exam:
Did you manage to be happy?
translated from Ukrainian by Bogdan Boychuk