Alice Christy: Last Cry of the Duduk

In memory of Serpouhi Kenjosian

Once it is right, it writes its own;
when it is red, it is read wrong.
Once it is written, leave it alone;
when it is read, pray, hum along.

When it is red, it is read wrong;
(I chose music with sorrow's tone…)
when it is read, pray, hum along.
(…to it paired movement, stone on stone.)

I chose music with sorrow's tone,
and danced I, for your days bygone.
To it, paired movement–stone on stone–
so dance I, for my tomorrow’s dawn.

And danced I, for your days bygone,
for a duduk’s cry haunts soul with poem…
So dance I, for my tomorrow’s dawn.
Pray, Fate, drink not the ancient’s Jeroboam.

For a duduk’s cry haunts soul with poem.
(Once it is written, leave it alone.)
Pray, Fate, drink not the Ancient’s Jeroboam.
(Once it is right, it writes its own.)

Alice Christy is the poetry pseudonym of writer Bethel Swift whose great-grandmother, Sarah Nahabedian, was a survivor of the Armenian Genocides. Though much of her story remains untold, what is known is that Sarah came to the U.S. shortly after surviving a long desert march in which she lost her mother and young child (her first husband was also killed). Her second husband, Pilos Kenjosian, sent money for her passage because he wanted to rescue a woman from his home country. They married and named their oldest daughter Serpouhi. When she was small, her father would rock her to sleep weeping for his murdered relatives, and crying, "Oh Mayrig, Mayrig...". Because of this, Serpouhi became known as "Mary" instead.

The poet's grandmother, Serpouhi "Mary" Kenjosian

Alice Christy