Latest posts
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Incense, by Zabelle Essayan
(Born 1878) THE incense at the altar slowly burnsSwayed in the silver censer to and fro ;Around the crucifix it coils and turns,The brows of saints it wreathes with misty glow. And tremulous petitions, long drawn out,Beneath the lofty arches faint away ;To weary eyes the candles round aboutHeave as they flicker with their pallid ray.…
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I beheld my Love this Morning, by Sayat Nova
(1712-1795) I BEHELD my love this morning, in the garden paths she strayed,All brocaded was the ground with prints her golden pattens made ;Like the nightingale, I warbled round my rose with wings displayed,And I wept, my reason faltered, while my heart was sore dismayed.Grant, O Lord, that all my foemen to such grief may…
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Huntsman, that on the Hills above, by Avetik Isahakian
” HUNTSMAN, that on the hills above To hunt the deer hast been,Tell me, I pray thee, if my love— My wild deer thou hast seen ? ” He sought the hills his grief to quell— My darling love, my sun.He wandered out upon the fell, My flower, my only one. “ ” Maiden, I saw your lover true, All…
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Liberty, by Mikael Nalbandian
(1829-1866) WHEN the God of LibertyFormed of earth this mortal frame,Breathed the breath of life in me,And a spirit I became, Wrapped within my swaddling bands,Bound and fettered helplessly,I stretched forth my infant handsTo embrace sweet Liberty. All night long, until the dawn,In my cradle bound I lay ;And my sobbing’s ceaseless moanDrove my mother’s…
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Yesternight I walked Abroad
ANONYMOUS YESTERNIGHT I walked abroad.From the clouds sweet dews were falling, And my love stood in the road,All in green, and to me calling. To her home she led me straight,Shut and barred the gate securely ; Whoso tries to force that gateBrave I’ll reckon him most surely ! In the garden she did go,Gathered roses dewed with…
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My Heart is turned into a Wailing Child, by Nahabed Kouchak
(Fifteenth Century) MY heart is turned into a wailing child, In vain with sweets I seek to still its cries ;Sweet love, it calls for thee in sobbings wild All day and night, with longing and with sighs. What solace can I give it ? I showed my eyes the fair ones of this earth And tried to please…
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O Night, be long, by Nahabed Kouchak
O NIGHT, be long—long as an endless year !Descend, thick darkness, black and full of fear ! To-night my heart’s desire has been fulfilled— My love is here at last—a guest concealed ! Dawn, stand behind seven mountains—out of sight,Lest thou my loved one banish with thy light ; I would for ever thus in darkness rest So I…
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Black Eyes, by Avetik Isahakian
(Born 1875) Do not trust black eyes, but fear them :— Gloom they are, and endless night ;Woes and perils lurking near them— Love not thou their gleaming bright ! In my heart a sea of blood wells, Called up by their cruel might,No calm ever in that flood dwells— Love not thou their gleaming bright ! Armenian legends and…