I sob and weep the livelong night; Till dawn I watch—I watch and write; Arax, ere sunrise gild thy waves To thee I bring my spirit’s blight. Upon the rocks the sunbeams dart, Red flames devour my mourning heart; Those eyes and brows have left with me A sorrow which shall ne’er depart. THE PARROT’S SONG By RAFFI (1837–1888) With nuts and sweets and dainty fare, My lady feeds me oft. She decks my cage with tender care, And hands so white and soft. But not a moment’s joy can give This pampering care to me, Since as a prisoner here I live, In gilded misery. EARTH AND SKY By HOVHANNES TOUMANIAN The Sky bent down his piercing gaze one day On Mother Earth, that far beneath him lay. And as he looked on mountain, sea, and grove, On hill and dale, he burnt with thoughts of love. Earth lying numbed and frozen ‘neath the snow, Sudden awoke to springtime’s ardent glow, And flames of fire her beating heart consumed, While myriad flowers the air around perfumed. And thus they loved, though never side by side, Though Nature willed they should be parted wide— The Earth and Sky. But when has love accepted with content An obstacle? When o’er the earth steals night, The starry Sky, his vision downward bent, Opens his thousand eyes of shining light, And gazes on his love in worship still, Gazes till dawn, and cannot take his fill. And as he gazes, all his starry eyes Are strewn into Earth’s breast of waters blue, Which foam, and heave, and swell, and strive to rise, Longing to reach and join her lover true. He, more and more inflamed by passion’s fire, In all the splendours of the night arrayed, Pours in her ear his longing and desire, And shows her all his pomp and pride displayed; Towards her turning And ever yearning. But when he finds his love is out of reach He turns away, nor utters sound nor speech; And in the dark the tears that dim his sight Fall on earth’s cheeks in showers of dewdrops bright,— Dewdrops of pearl—the tears that heaven weeps, And then Earth’s bosom swells. Her thousand deeps, Her boundless oceans, rise once more to meet The far-off loved one; and her mountain peaks Like myriad lips rise up the clouds to greet,— To kiss their gloomy forms, and sullen cheeks. And love torments her with its ceaseless fire. Her waters foam, and writhe, and are convulsed, Yet never may they reach their heart’s desire,— Restlessly sobbing, ever more repulsed.