Danniel Varoujan - THE TEAM

My oxen are blond, with bright foreheads,

Which I have decked with blue amulets.

They are high on the morning air of spring –

Serenely they gaze the peaceful pastures.

All winter long, I nourished them with hay –

They look like a temple’s corpulent idols.

Their neatly combed, long hirsute tails

Lick their flanks like sinewy serpents.

I love their strong, multi-levelled backs,

Their moist nostrils, enormous pupils,

Where rests the dream of tranquil fields.

And their sway, and the mighty bellow

From far horizons – as they push onward

With their horns goring the crimson dawn.

Daniel Varoujan

Translated by Tatul Sonentz