William Michaelian: Valley Poem, ca. 1979

When Zaroohi the shoemaker's widow
sang Amen yev unt hokvooyt koom
with my friend from Yozgat
on hot summer Sundays
I imagined eagles
somewhere
far away
circling
above
a church
without a dome.

I imagined I was home,
a blade of grass beside a stone.

And the stone whispered terrible things.


August 24, 2007


Copyright William Michaelian. Used here by kind permission of the author.