Sylva Kaputikian - NEAR MASIS

You do look so
pristine today, Masis,
your colors awash
with delicate hues,
as if not fashioned
of rock and gravel,
but softly rendered
in watercolor...

You look at all
with such candor,
yet still remain ours --
so intimate, so close,
so totally impervious
to betrayal, or perfidy
as if never deprived
of your progeny

And as if Arax,
now pallid with fury,
never did freeze thus
flanked by you and me

And now, if I only took
just a few bold steps,
you will be there
within my reach...


Sylva Kaputikian
translated by Tatul Sonentz