Idilevo, “Baba Stanka”

Idilevo is a village in the Sevlievo county, Northern Bulgaria. Under the Ottoman rule, the village was populated entirely by Turks.
I remember Baba Stanka sitting alone, in front of her brick house, gazing at the soaring pastures… as if time had suddenly stopped. She was expecting nobody. She was perfectly contained, absorbed within the memories of her maidenhood – the songs and dances.

(painting accompanied by poem)….
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Memoirs (translated into English)
Ah, grandma, let you weep!
For the nation, for your childhood;
For the valleys – now forgotten
For your hands – dry and rotten.

Oh, granny, let you gasp!
For the children that have fled;
For your gates – today dreadfully gaping
and in the fireplace – flames lonely aching.

Eh, Bulgarko, let go!
Of the relatives and their unforgotten past;
Of the flute – not singing through the hills
And of the fading memory – having lost the song from your lips.
By Plamena Pehlivanova

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Придихание (original in Bulgarian)

Ах, бабо, поплачи си
За народа, за твоето детство;
За нивята – сега сиви,
За ръцете ти – сухи, гнили.

Ах, старицо, въздъхни си
За децата, побегнали отвъд;
За портите – днес грозно зеещи,
И в камината съчки самотно тлееши.

Ех, Българко, примири се,
За родата, за невечната им памет;
За кавала – не огласяйки днес низината
За паметта бледа – погубила песента от устата.