Friday, May 15, 2015

Live from Holy Cross: Peter Bricklebank reading Rouben Sevak

Click to hear the audio segment

Peter Bricklebank and Sarah Van Arsdale 
Photo by Lola Koundakjian


Edelweiss

On my wall, wordless, pale, 
covering an unseen nail 
its freshness evaporates 
as it wilts and browns,

its petals gradually fade 
losing its delicate 
bouquet. What ill wind 
brought it down

from the mountains 
to this fate of 
crumbling pistils 
drooping crowns

as the coiled petals dry, 
unclasping to velvet ash?

But still it keeps 
the unreached heights 
of my dreams in its white 
heart of edelweiss.

ROUBEN SEVAK



*A small white herb growing high in the Alps whose name in Armenian is Lion's Paw. It is the symbol for freedom in Austrian and Armenian poetry. Roupen Sevag recovered in the Alps from tuberculosis contracted as a medical student.

From Poetry of  our Time

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