O DARLING, IF A SONG WOULD DO...
O darling, if a song would do
to break the ice of the sunken heart,
if only a song, sweet song would do,
I'd surely sing it,
sing it like a nightingale,
yet sounds like these are rarely
heard in these forgotten parts.

Like a broken record
our life is computerized--
forever in error.

What song, what melodies,
what symphony?
They hammer through my ears
in melodramatic soap operas,
every day is a living nightmare--
they have covered the sun with
the aluminum foil.

And yet I hope somehow.

                                               June 23, 1986
                                          --Alexander Shaumyan