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"

BEDROS ADAMIAN, a famous Armenian actor, was born in 1849, and died in 1891. He wrote many poems and translations.

THE WAVES ON THE SHORE.

THE day is bright June weather,
The cool north wind blows free;
Why swells thy breast, old ocean?
Hast thou good news for me?
Thy billows, coming, coming,
Leap high, then sink away,
And on the shore forever
Scatter their foaming spray.

O billows, ocean billows,
These rocks and sands that fret!
Bring tidings of the dear ones
My heart can ne’er forget!
Coming and ever coming,
And breaking o’er and o’er,
Bring some glad news to cheer me,
A pilgrim on this shore.

Consumed by mournful yearning,
Far distant from my sight,
E’en now my dearest suffers,
She sorrows day and night.
Her tears are ever flowing,
Her sad heart full of care;
O billows of the ocean,
To her my greeting bear!

Open, ye waves, and swallow
The salt tears from mine eyes,
And bury in your bosom
My grief, my bitter sighs!
O billows, now receding
Back toward the ocean blue,
Receive me as your comrade
And let me go with you!

Take me, O waves, and cast me
Like wreckage at their feet,
A witness to the love and grief
That bid my sad heart beat!
O billows, ocean billows,
Waves of the great salt sea,
Come, bear me to my dear ones;
Your comrade I will be!