Vanadzor Fountains (Photo: Arthur Ovanesian, 2021)

Author’s note: I’m deeply grateful to Arthur Ovanesian and Perla Kantarjian for their invaluable suggestions.

Yet again history
has decided
to visit the present.
Like always,
it has come
unannounced,
empty-handed.
Once more, we said:
“Please give us bread.”
They said here’s pain—
and we did receive it.
We suggested:
“If not food,
you may bring any gift.”
We got only poison.
We said, day by day:
“Our bodies are growing slim.”
They answered:
“Ah, you’re getting smart now.”
Perhaps we spoke too often
about our tormenter’s sin—
that’s why some understood
it as being without,
and others thought
it was their own.
We raised our voices:
“Our people are living in hell.”
The response:
“Your situation looks bright.”
We begged:
“Please protect our plot of land.”
They wondered:
“Why are you requesting fences?”
We informed them:
“Our home
isn’t safe.”
They advised:
“Then go ahead and keep 
the doors open.”
With time, we told them:
“It’s still getting too hot.”
Finally, a few understood,
but still they did nothing.
We warned: “The last
of our people are leaving.”
Oh, what a burden
this was to hear!
We suggested:
“Let’s make a list of demands.”
They thought:
“Perhaps we’re getting too cunning.”
We pronounced:
“Our enemies could be pétulant.”
I guess, in our ignorance,
we didn’t pronounce
it the right way,
sounding playful, exuberant.
We asked: “Are we not
being sensible enough?”
They said: “Yes, but still
you’re being too sensitive.”
We cautioned:
“They mean war.”
They calmed us down:
“That’s all in the past.”
We said: “It could happen այսօր.”
They heard what they wanted to hear:
“We’re too much of an eyesore.”
Now that everyone has left,
there’s no enemy left.
All the “occupiers” have fled.
All the “separatists” are gone.
There are no more people
to call “traitors” and “dogs.”

Glossary of terms: