Moushegh Ishkhan

Lebanon / USA

Joined With Our Land

O my mother, sun and remote moon,
Transformed into communion bread, you joined with our land
And the age-old earth of our homeland, always sweet,
Became still sweeter.
O my mother, lit by holy heaven and morning,
You gave your soul, laden with incense, to our land,
And the land of our honored fathers, always holy,
Became more sacred still.
O nay mother, treasure, inexhaustible gold mine,
You became both mystery and paltry mound of earth,
Yet the store of unfound treasure, lying deep in our earth,
Became still richer.
O nay mother, source of love's unreachable miracle,
You went to your sleep beneath the Illuminator's star,
And the boundless heart of Armenia's own earth
Became still more motherly.
O my mother, O refuge, O reverenced altar,
Native language, holy vernacular,
Now with your presence, the peerless Armenian world
Became a little more Armenian.
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