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The Lamp of the Illuminator
Vahan Tekeyan
In the uncountable array of stars
there is one that is
ours alone.
It fixes itself over Arakadz,
different and apart from the
rest,
as if another hand hung it in secret
to give hope to Armenian
eyes,
lit it from Gregory's light,
filling it with tears not oil.
Just
as the faithful each day
are energized by the sight
of the Ararat
crest,
so they are strengthened at night
as the star brightens in their
souls
growing, growing into a new sunrise.
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About The Poet
Vahan Tekeyan
(1878-1948)
Vahan Tekeyan was known as a perfectionist, because he always looked for the
precise word. He was born in Istanbul in 1978 and educated in the Armenian
schools there. His first poems were collected and published in 1901. Besides his
own books, he published translations of French symbolist poetry and the sonnets
of Shakespeare. The sonnet remained his favorite form.
During the 1896 persecutions, Tekeyan left
Istanbul for Europe. He returned, but subsequently settled in Egypt, where he
was active in Armenian political life and edited the Armenian newspaper,
Arev.
His books are "Burdens" (1901), "The Wonderful
Rebirth" (1914), "From Midnight Until Dawn" (1918), "Love" (1933), "Armenian
Songs" (1943), and "Book of Odes" (1944).
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