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