Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
VIOLET ON THE MOUNTAIN<br />
Place-mother<br />
Place-mother,<br />
Mother of God,<br />
Bring us a bountiful yield,<br />
Plowed by the oxen,<br />
Milked from the cows!<br />
The woman Khwaramze<br />
In the East appeared<br />
A woman of resplendent beauty,<br />
Her earrings and her rings<br />
Jangled in the wind;<br />
A vassal came up with her,<br />
His sabre painted red.<br />
— Kiss the woman Khwaramze,<br />
I am the woman’s husband. —<br />
The foolish young man kissed her,<br />
Then split his own head with his sword.<br />
— What means this, foolish youth,<br />
Why did you kill yourself? —<br />
Khwaramze grew angry,<br />
Let down her hair from above,<br />
She saddled her father’s steed<br />
And she herself jumped on.<br />
The roads of Trialeti<br />
Are not enough to run on,<br />
The great Algeti mountains<br />
Are not enough to graze on,<br />
Three stones of solid salt<br />
Are not enough to lick on,<br />
The Alazani and Kura<br />
Are not enough to drink from.<br />
It came to the Gumbri waters,<br />
Eyes ablaze like lightning;<br />
It slurped up the sea till it dried,<br />
It burst its saddle girth.<br />
Any woman like Khwaramze<br />
Would boast of her womanhood;<br />
No sharp sword could cut her,<br />
No knife make her afraid.<br />
71
Change language