Testament

Image provided by Tatul Sonentz-Papazian

I lived my days
smiling at the sun
abandoned to dreams
saving the salt of tears
to be shed some day into
the dark blue waters
of the salty Black Sea at
stormy nights where
my father sailed once —
a young sailor at the mercy
of wind and sail, mast
and wooden rudder —
abandoned totally
to Poseidon’s whims…

I wished to meet
my grim reaper standing
on the sands of a sunny
shore of that distant sea
and surrender my soul
to where and when I
came from a long –too long
a time ago – seemingly endless
now brief with vanishing
memory of dreams turning
into longings for peace…

I now stand at sunset
on the golden painted shores
in a rendering of a glittering sea
in the flames of my setting sun
while Venus rises from
the waters in all her naked
glory – extending her moist
guiding hand to lead me
safely to the divine abode
of a rendered eternity…

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Tatul Sonentz-Papazian

Tatul Sonentz-Papazian is the former editor of the Armenian Review and director of the ARF and First Republic of Armenia Archives, based in Watertown, Mass. He has been a contributor to the Armenian Weekly for over 50 years. He currently directs the Publications Department of the Armenian Relief Society.