Hovhannes Tumanian: In the Armenian Mountains

Translation of Hovhannes Tumanian poem
1902

The way was heavy and the night was dark,

And yet we survived

Both sorrow and gloom.

Through the ages we go and gaze at the stark

Steep heights of our land—

The Armenian Highlands.

We carry from old our treasure,

Vast as the sea,

Brought into life

By the great soul of our people,

In our lofty land—

The Armenian Highlands.

How many times

The savage hordes

From the blazing desert

Tore and tormented

Our caravan

In our blood-smeared land—

The Armenian Highlands.

Yet, plundered and scattered,

Our caravan

Sought its way out

From among the rocks

Counting the scars of its countless wounds

In our mournful land—

The Armenian Highlands.

And we gaze with dolorous, longing eyes

At the earth in its gloom,

At the distant stars;

Ah, when will the dawn break at last

Over our green

Armenian Highlands?