Love Songs
Silva Kapoutikyan

1.

If I don't love you, and I don't love you,
Why is winter then so much like spring,
And winter's sun so brightly hot,
And the lowering sky so clear,
If I don't love you, and I don't love you.

If you don't love me, and you don't love me,
Then why is it that on your street
Passersby make way with so much kind concern,
And the houses, too, and the walks, the snow-
If you don't love me, and you don't love me.

And if we do not love each other,
Then why are there so many stars,
So much beauty in the night and day,
And so much at peace the world, so gentle-
If we do not love each other.

2.

In your proud crystal vase,
The flowers I'd presented in high esteem
Remain unwatered for days on end,

And, one by one, the withered leaves,
Fall like my tears, humiliated,
On the cold glass of your desk.

3.

When you puff on your cigarette
It always seems that in its fiery coal
There is something of my very being
That burns up there, as well.
You inhale the fire of my soul
To while away, for a time, cold tedium.

You puff on your cigarette silently,
And heedlessly cast off the butt.

4.

I said "go, go away," but why did you leave?
I said "stay no more," but why didn't you stay?
My eyes, trembling with tears, said "believe in me,"
You should have believed my eyes- why did you believe my words?

5.

Come, come, come,
Though for the last time,
Though with a reluctant step,
Come, only do come.

Though loveless and heartless,
Though harsh and sarcastic,
Though rough and stinging,
Come, only do come.

Though perhaps you bring
Me the pain of some new harm,
Though from another's embrace,
Come, only do come.

6.

We wander the streets,
I with your love, and you with another's-
We burn with such fires,
I for you, and you for another.

We long for, laugh, become sad,
I at your words, you at another's,
We sleep and fall into wonderful dreams,
I with your looks, and you with another's.

Well, so what, perverse luck-
Let the world forget that we were;
But, oh, that we had lived in love,
Though I with you, and you with another.