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"

SHOUSHANIK KOURGHINIAN was born at Alexandropol In 1876. She soon became known through her contributions to the press. Her first volume of collected poems, “The Tolling Bells at Dawn,” appeared in 1907. Most of them are poems of freedom and of the labor movement. She has had little schooling, but has educated herself.

THE EAGLE’S LOVE.

THE eagle sat upon the rocky verge;
He sat and sang—the wild notes filled the air.
He saw the maiden in the vale below;
He marked how beautiful she was, how fair.

“ Good girl, thou maiden like the reindeer fleet!
How sad it is thou hast not learned to fly!
In silence, in that place of shadow deep,
Thou like a flower wilt fade away and die.

“O lovely maid, if thou couldst only fly,
Queen would I make thee of my rocky steep!
And if thine eyes grew heavy, on my wings
I with sweet songs would cradle thee to sleep.

“To me those eyes of thine are darksome night,
Thy smile a burning sun, like that above.
The heaven vast would not rule over thee,
But would become thy vassal, for thy love.

“I wonder if thou canst not fly at all?
Who gave thee birth, devoid of wings for flight?
I wonder if thou never in thy life
Hast longed to soar in air, all free and light?”

Thus the proud eagle from the rocky verge
Sang, longing for the maiden for his mate.
He flew away, and soared o’er hills and vales,
Mourning and grieving for the maiden’s fate.