The Armenian Poet’s Prayer
By ALEXANDER DZADOURIAN
(Born 1870)
O God, ’tis not for laurel wreaths I pray,
For pompous funeral or jubilee;
Nor yet for fame beyond my life’s decay—
All these my country will accord to me.
One favour, Lord of Heaven, I implore—
One that my land to me will never give:
Grant me a crust of bread, or else such store
Of grace that I on air may learn to live!