ARMENIAN POEMS

Contents | Table of contents [as in the book] | Preface | Introduction

APPENDIX: The Armenian Women | The Armenian Church
Bibliography | Comments on the first edition of "Armenian Poems"

BISHOP KAREKIN SERVANTZDIANTZ.

THE MARTYRS OF AVARAIR.

IF Coghtn’s patriot bards are silent now,
Whose songs of old wreathed heroes with renown,
Then let immortal spirits come from heaven,
Let them descend, Armenia’s brave to crown.

Let flocks of angels come from heaven, and sit
On Ararat’s high top, where cloud-wreaths brood.
God has descended unto Haiasdan
To scent the savor of Armenian blood.

O clouds, fly far away from Shavarshan!
Shed there no more your dews through darkening air,
For Shavarshan is watered by the blood
Of the Armenian brave who perished there.

No grass, no rose springs up or blossoms there
Upon that field which is our heroes’ tomb;
But where the mighty Vartan fell and died,
The flower of sacred faith shall bud and bloom.

Brave Egiche, the sculptor, to Ardaz
Comes with his pen in hand, and fair and straight
He cuts and measures, he inscribes and stamps
The valiant Vartan’s life and death and fate.

O Ararat, raise monasteries, shrines,
Domes cross surmounted, temples fair to see,
Gospel and cross, a lasting monument
That worthy of great Vartan’s name shall be!

Shine on the mountain chain of Kaght, O sun!
In its dark niches let your beams arise.
’T was there brave Humayag in battle fell,
’T is there that he, a holy martyr, lies.

Moon, o’er the bones of the Armenians
Watch with your wakeful eye from heaven’s blue deep,
And with the happy dews of smiling May
Sprinkle the lonely graves wherein they sleep!

Eagles and falcons of Armenia,
And cranes, her summer guests from age to age,
Over this land keep watch, and let the house
Of the Armenians be your heritage!

Perch on the ashes; in the ruins old,
Armenian birds, make ye your nests, your home,
And let the flitting swallow come and go,
Until for the Armenians spring shall come !