Translated by Diana Der-Hovanessian
Misak Medzarents was born in Akn in 1888 and died of tuberculosis at 22. He and Vahan Derian are the two most musical poets in Armenian literature and are, therefore, the most daunting to translate. Diana Der-Hovanessian, an American-born poet, has translated their work, she says, “with trepidation and admiration.” Variations of the poems appeared in Anthology of Armenian Poetry (Columbia U. Press) and the Derian poems were in Coming To Terms, published by Ashod Press.
TWILIGHT
Like a girl in saffron walking under pine trees,
like a girl where the evening breeze blows
toward the flowering pomegranate grove
the dusk is passing and the day slowly goes.
Twilight falls, like sweet wilting iris
in varying shades of blue, it goes,
slowly dying, folding itself over|
a thin stamen of hope, the light flows.
Then it is dark, like my soul left alone,
the soul that has been so long in the dark
where the light of dreams fled long ago
leaving it, my soul, in the rain, looking for home.
***
LOVE SONG
Affectionate winds light up the blossoms
around me, making a festival
tiny lanterns of light.
This night is a feast of luminous roads.
With sweet balsam, with sweet hashish
the winds make me drunk tonight.
Sweet flower kisses fill the air
with perfumed petals and seeds
…a surfeit of everything except|
the one and only kiss I need.
***
THIS HOUR WITH YOU
If I could keep, could keep
this hour forever as a part of me,
and distill, distill this hour
as the essence of harmony;
if I could feel the way I do
this hour, all my life,
benign, bemused and blessed
as I am here with you
and then could write and share
the beauty of this hour
I could wash my life clean
and scoured of every care.
Guest Contributor
Beautiful poetry! Thank you for sharing these with your readers. I will definitely check out the Columnbia U. and Ashod Press publications.
Not an easy task to translate
From soul to soul…
As every poet has a unique soul
and each language has its own soul
Diana wants to unite the souls
And create a new soul
This what she imagined …
Believed…did…
As the humanity…
Must be based on…!
Unification of souls
Birthing a new breed…
But soullesses…
Are always there
Arrives to separate
But can’t do in every case…
Sylva-MD-Poetry
April 19, 2011
Please clear the first and keep the new one
Translation from Soul to Soul
Pursued by the Poetess Diana Der-Hovanessian
for the Armenian Poet Misak Medzarents poems
Who died younger than John Keats (1795-1821)
From the same disease, Tuberculosis
Which is declining…
accept in immune deficient cases.
Translation From Armenian Soul To English
Not an easy task to translate
From soul to soul…
As every poet has a unique soul
and each language has its own soul
Diana wants to unite the souls
And create a new soul
This what she imagined …
Believed…did…
As the humanity…
Must be based on…!
Unification of souls
Birthing a new breed…
But those soullesses…
Are always there
Arrives to separate
But… I do wonder…
Are they able
To do in every case…!
Sylva-MD-Poetry
April 19, 2011
Hello, I’m a Spanish teacher and one of my students is from Armenia. I would like her reading a poem in armenian at our Literature festival next 23rd April and I found one from Missak MEDZARENTS called ACACIAS. Would you mind send me this poem in its original version?
Thank you very much in advance
Joana
do you have these in Armenian?
Hello, can somebody send me the original(armenian) of the “this hour with you” poem? I tried to find it, but didn’t see anything like this poem. Please send me armenian version.
Best regards