IRYNA SENYK

IRYNA SENYK
WHITE ASTER OF LOVE
PUBLISHED BY
UKRAINIAN CATHOLIC WOMEN'S LEAGUE OF CANADA ST. DEMETRIUS CHURCH ETOBICOKE, ONTARIO
TO HONOUR OUR PIONEER WOMEN ON THE OCCASION OF
THE CENTENNIAL OF UKRAINIAN IMMIGRATION TO CANADA
1891-1991

Our courageous pioneer women passed on to us a deep love for Ukrainian culture and tradition

Preface
Though the twentieth century is tragically rich in instances of "man's inhumanity to man", all the same, it can offer examples of the human spirit, unbroken and shining even amid political persecution, physical adversity, psychological abuse.
White Aster of Love, a collection of poems by Iryna Senyk, is such a beacon. Many of the pieces presented here, together with the accompanying cross-stitch embellishments, were created by her while undergoing punishment for her defiance of the Soviet regime.
This collection appears in her sixty-sixth year. Sixteen of those years were spent in prison and labour camps, a further eighteen in exile.
Iryna Senyk was born in Western Ukraine in 1926. A philologist by training, she devoted much of her time to working for the needy in the social services network under the patronage of Metropolitan Archbishop Andrij Sheptytsky. It was probably as much her association with the Metropolitan as her involvement in the Ukrainian nationalist movement that brought her to the attention of Soviet authorities and resulted in 1945 in her first arrest. Although ill, she was given a ten-year sentence by a military tribunal.
It was while in prison, awaiting transfer to a labour camp, that she was taught how to embroider by a cellmate, a nun. For thread they unraveled bits of the prison uniform and Iryna's kerchief. Fish bones served as needles.
Completion of the original sentence did not bring freedom. Instead, she was given a further term of thirteen years' exile during which she trained and worked as a nurse. Only in 1968 was she permitted to return to Ukraine, but not to live in Lviv, her native city.
Unbroken by the punishment she had already received, she continued her involvement in the struggle for Ukrainian independence. In 1972 she was arrested again and sentenced to six years in a labour camp. This was followed by five years of exile. In 1983 she returned to Ukraine, settling in the West Ukrainian city of Boryslav.
Iryna Senyk's poetry is lyrical, sensitive. It is introspective, at times nostalgic. Family and friends are constant themes. The youthful past is remembered, nature described. Yet one cannot help but sense that behind the evocative metaphors and the delicate tracery of her words lies a tremendous strength of will and a determination to be one's self. There is an acceptance of fate, but not a surrender to it.
The years of imprisonment and exile have not destroyed her love of life. The lyrical beauty of her poems, even while permitting the readers to share her experiences, inspires them to rise above physical and mental anguish and to share with her love for those close to her, for nature, for God, and for her homeland.
Even from behind the bars of her cell, the barbed wire of the labour camp, she perceives the beauty that is the true nature of God's world.
M. J. Diakowsky
Contents
12................................................................... Dedication
25.................................................................. Preface

27.................................................................. Poems
[pages 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 43, 55

57.................................................................. Fashion Sketches
[pages 59, 67, 73, 94, 105

109................................................................. Poems
[pages 115, 125]

139................................................................. Photo Album
[pages 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151]

152............................................................ A tiny seed --- a towering tree
154............................................................ Acknowledgements
157............................................................ Notes

Зміст
Присвячення ..............................................13
Передмова ...................................................17
Вірші ...........................................................27
[ст. 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 43, 55]

Ескізи моди ................................................57
[ст. 59, 67, 73, 94, 105]

Вірші ..........................................................109
[ст. 115, 125]

Альбом знимок ..........................................139
[ст. 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151]

З Малого Зерна --- Велике Дерево ............153

Подяка .......................................................155

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Originally Composed: Friday July 17th, 1998.
Date last modified: Tuesday August 4th, 1998.