“I HAVE loved your winsome face,
And your never-fading grace.
If they give you not to me
May God send them black disgrace !”
“Mountain sorrel, fresh with dew,
Sweets I send and honey new ;
Is a dainty maid like me
Fit to wed a youth like you ?”
“You are arch, my little maid,
In four plaits your hair you braid,
Make no more pretence to me—
For you love me, I’m afraid !”
“Drive your plough ahead, and go ;
Underneath it thistles grow.
You are reckless, young, and wild—
She is mad would wed you so !”
“Near your house a field I’ll sow
And I’ll stone the ill-starred crow.
When I have the girl I love
I’ll let all my folly go.”
“On its way the water flows,
Washing with its waves the rose.
My beloved amidst the youths,
Like a mighty fortress shows.”
“In the vineyard you have grown,
Where the melon plants are sown,
Day and night upon my lute,
You I sing, and you alone.”
“Sing a minstrel’s song to me,
Or the blackbird’s rhapsody ;
All your praises I deserve,
And my bridegroom you shall be !”
Armenian legends and poems by Zabelle C. Boyajian and Aram Raffi, London & New York, 1916.