We As Two Separate Planets

Shushanik Kurghinian

To Mania

We as two separate planets embraced
each other on a new life's threshold,
I, a native child of the mountains,
you, the arctic's beautiful daughter.

The day was a rebel, its strike erratic . . .
The mob fierce, fires ablaze . . .
You stood there as a golden brush,
I, a black and somber exile.

Did you see the embers of my old illusions
beneath the golden tongues of flame?
We as two separate planets wept
equally under one great cross.

June 7, 1908


translated from the Armenian by Shushan Avagyan