KeghartArtistic portrayal of the Armenian Genocide can emerge through the literary word, whether in novels, short stories, plays, poetry or even film scripts. Often the inspiration for such works can be found in a specific traumatic incident, a particular family’s agonizing 
odyssey or a village’s or region’s shared bleak fate. Unfortunately, a great tragic void is created by genocide due to the vast numbers of dead victims (often entire families and community groups). As a result, so many key episodes are not fully or formally recorded. But sometimes, vivid memories continue, as best they can, in the oral tradition of survivor accounts passed on, from one generation to another. They are perhaps told in hushed, quiet, reflective moments. Armenian families often share fragmentary family recollections from those terrible times.
Artistic portrayal of the Armenian Genocide can emerge through the literary word, whether in novels, short stories, plays, poetry or even film scripts. Often the inspiration for such works can be found in a specific traumatic incident, a particular family’s agonizing odyssey or a village’s or region’s shared bleak fate. Unfortunately, a great tragic void is created by genocide due to the vast numbers of dead victims (often entire families and community groups). As a result, so many key episodes are not fully or formally recorded. But sometimes, vivid memories continue, as best they can, in the oral tradition of survivor accounts passed on, from one generation to another. They are perhaps told in hushed, quiet, reflective moments. Armenian families often share fragmentary family recollections from those terrible times.
Born in Van
and only five years old
when the terrible slaughter commenced
Her parents and brothers were killed.
Her sisters abducted.
Yet, amidst the horror,
her neighbours,
Muslim Kurds,
took in the young Christian child
and hid her for several days.
Her kind and brave neighbours,
were fearful of being caught defying the draconian state decrees,
which forbade any humanitarian assistance to the Armenians.
And so,
during the dark hours of the night,
the neighbours sent the child
up into the mountains,
to be hidden by a shepherd amongst his sheep.
Once there,
she was cared for by others,
until she could be safely brought to Yerevan.
She alone of her family made the final journey.
For the rest of her life,
in remembrance,
she only wore black.
She mourned the loss of her extended family.
She also vowed never again to look into a mirror.
For to do so, she feared
she would see
not herself,
but her beloved lost sisters.
For the remainder of her life
she lived
with no mirror in her house.
This way she would not see
whom she could not bear to have lost.
Alan Whitehorn is author of a number of books on the Armenian Genocide, including Just Poems: Reflections on the Armenian Genocide.
Keghart
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3 comments
Moving Poem
A very beautiful, limpid way to preserve that story. A house with no mirror. A woman who gives up pretty dresses and even the image of her own face. It’s very impressive. It also means there were no mirrors for her children who could only see themselves when they visited other houses and that the children never saw their mother, except in black. That black contrasts with the imagined whiteness of the sheep that concealed the little girl. Thank you for sharing this moving poem with your readers.
Thank You
Thank you Marina for your thoughtful literary and existential comments. I am sure Mariam’s family will be quite moved by your words.
Alan Whitehorn
“Still Documenting the 1915 Genocide” Part II
All of us who had a grandparents who suffered and survived the Genocide were brought up with this tragedy burnt in our hearts. Every time my beloved grandmother’s eyes filled with tears when she remembered her slain children, parents and beautiful sister my soul also filled with tears. You did not experience this sorrow but your humanity expressed in your poem is touching. Thank you.
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