When Sadness and Memory...

     When sadness and memory
           reunite twice a year
           and the sun opens the pores
                  of my hands,
           there is a rejoicing of the rain
           after the tension of the clouds
           during the long years of mourning,
           the roots and the branches become one
           and the silence of the wind
                 speaks of infinity; warm, gentle
           earth receives us in her arms
           and we are all suddenly reawakened
           to the glow of the trembling fire
               breaking out of the depths of our hearts,
               erupting from the fingertips of a
                    clandestine woman,
           her starry sleep, sleep, sleep
               is all we ever know, all we ever learn...
     When sadness and memory
           reunite twice a year,
           we eat suns for breakfast
           and moons for lunch,
           awaiting the mysterious last supper of youth.
 

                                January 12, 1987
                             --Alexander Shaumyan