leqsebi

VIOLET ON THE MOUNTAIN
From our own fields, basketsful;
From our foe’s fields, handbagsful.
Aguna, Aguna, wiiio!
For our own women, fine silken fabric;
For our foe’s women, thimble and distaff.
I was Tamar the Queen
I was Tamar the Queen:
I bowed my head to no one,
I set my boundary-stones in the sea,
The dry land came under my rule.
I laid a tax on the Kajes,
Took tribute from Isfahan,
My sword fell on Stambul and Derbent,
I levied a land-tax in Sham.
I crossed impassable mountains
And opened up great thoroughfares,
Traversed the thickest of forests,
Set churches on the high rocks.
I, who accomplished such deeds,
Took nought but a nine-yard cloth.
The Battle of Gumbri
The time of captivity lay upon us:
The enemy captured our homes and land.
There were no longer crops to harvest,
Mountain and lowland were scarred by flame.
A brother no longer forgave his brother,
Nor his wife, nor sister-in-law;
Each one’s tongue had grown sharp,
It could sever your head like a sword.
They called this a time of chaos.
There is no way out, they said.
They were saying: the Sultan’s armies
Are cutting across the seas toward us.
From here our king has gone to meet them;
He goes, attended by his army.
One after another the soldiers march
Like a herd of sheep in summer.
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