Ballad of the Beetles
On Zangezur’s slopes where the high winds commence,
Treads the dark pilgrim, Dorcadion sisianense
Across crimson hills where the late sunsets condense,
Moves slow and steadfast Dorcadion syunikense
Near Jermuk’s cool springs where the bright waters dispense,
Runs quick as a whisper Trechus dzermukensis
Through mountain-held soil, old, shadowed, and dense,
Burrows the patient Trechus magniceps
In Ararat sands where the hot winds grow tense,
Wanders iron-clad Armenohelops armeniacus
Through grasses that sway with a silvery suspense,
Leaps light-footed Longitarsus violentoides
By Geghard’s dark cliffs where the swallows wheel immense,
Burns emerald bright Sphenoptera geghardica’s presence
Along the calm banks where the Araks flows immense,
Feeds the quiet Cryptocephalus araxicola with patience
So through Armenia’s valleys where old mountains stand immense,
Marches the sentinel Pterostichus capitatus in silence
From forest root deep to the desert’s far fence,
Live Armenia’s beetles, small, eternal, immense
