Venice masks

Tuesday 9 April 2024

The waves on the shore - Bedros Adamian

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!

Bedros Adamian [Petros Heronimosi Adamian] (1849 -1891) Armenia (born in Turkey)
Translated by Alice Stone Blackwell

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