Yak tebe ne lyubyty, Kyieve miy!

Yak tebe ne lyubyty, Kyieve miy! (Як тебе не любити, Києве мій!) is a lyrical song of Kiev composer Ihor Shamo and lyrics by poet Dmytro Lutsenko. At first the song was performed in 1962 in duet by Yuriy Gulyayev and Kostiantyn Ohnyevyi who at that time performed at Kiev Opera Theatre.

After over half a century later, in 2014 the song became official anthem of Kiev city.

Rough translation

 * Green sea is playing
 * Quite day is fading away
 * So dear have become for me
 * the slopping banks of Dnieper
 * Where branches are swaying
 * of amorous dreams...
 * How one cannot not love you,
 * Kyiv, my dear!


 * Into eyes Cannas are gazing
 * My heart I will pour into them
 * Let them tell to my beloved one
 * How I faithfully love
 * I will dream and live now
 * On wings of my hopes...
 * How one cannot not love you,
 * Kyiv, my dear!


 * Falling my weary city
 * in peaceful and gentle sleep
 * There lights as a necklace
 * Have bloomed over Dnieper
 * Velvet of late afternoons
 * Is as euphoria surf
 * How one cannot not love you,
 * Kyiv, my dear!


 * Грає море зелене,
 * Тихий день догора.
 * Дорогими для мене
 * Стали схили Дніпра,
 * Де колишуться віти
 * Закоханих мрій...
 * Як тебе не любити,
 * Києве мій!