Georgi Bargamian: Measuring depth with the drop of a stone at Dudan Gorge

We gather around the gash in the earth
Called Dudan/Duda/Yudan Dere
To commune with the dead
Through time and space
By measuring depth with the drop of a stone.
We release one into the gorge/gouge and
Hear it ping downward,
Like a lost tooth
Searching for home.
We drop more stones again and again
Into this quiet hellhole
Where millions of bones from thousands of bodies
Receive the rocks and confound the living
Who search for logic in an elegant equation.

Measuring depth with the drop of a stone at Dudan Gorge appeared in The Armenian Weekly on 9/3/2024