Bio: Born in Beirut to Armenian parents, multilingual
French author, Z. T. Balian, holds an MA in English Literature from the
American University of Beirut. After a career as a lecturer at a number of
Middle Eastern universities, during which she published several English
textbooks, she now devotes her time to writing poetry and fiction. She
published her debut novel, Three Kisses
of the Cobra, in 2016. Her second novel, Fallen Pine Cones, is due for
release shortly. Her 199 Haiku Poems in Western Armenian was published
in November 2022. A collection of her haiku poetry in English will see the
light later this year. Her haiku poems in Armenian are regularly published by hayerenblog, and her poetry in English
has previously appeared in Hope: An Anthology of Poetry and Setu
Mag’s Poetry: Western Voices (2021 and 2022).
Hold Me in Your Arms…
Hold me in your arms
And we can measure
The time and space
Of our embrace
The mass of our bodies
The heat emanating from
them
The sounds our lips make
The movement of our limbs
Keep me in your mind
And you can stack up
Memory after memory
Calculate the number
Of our encounters
Remember anniversaries
Anchor me to your heart
Where nothing is precise
Exact, conclusive,
determined
But a bond that may be
Indefinite
***
Phantasmagorical Journey
Stay awhile
Before I leave this world
of
Perfect illusions
Where bitter pills
Are swallowed like honey
Faux pas are welcome gifts
Miscalculations never shock
Misfortune is the
Redeemer of souls
Stay awhile
In my reverie of untainted
love
Spotless, pure
Sing me a lullaby
To get through the night of
Flawed passions
Walk with me
One day at a time
Help me amputate
One desire after another
Stay awhile
Let me go elated
That I wasn’t alone on this
Phantasmagorical journey of
Hallucinations of reality…
One day we shall meet again
In a sphere of faultless
grounds
***
In Memory of Departed Loved Ones
In the autumn of a life
Yellowing leaves are held
onto
For a while longer
By branches
That carried blooming
flowers
Not long ago
And a late summer fruit is
still
Clinging to its life-giver…
The tree will soon wear its
Garb of nakedness
Reminiscing in its massive
trunk
Those who died for it
Awaiting those
Who will again live for it
***
