Armen Davoudian

Conscription

All the families alike in their unhappiness,
the mother waking early to draw the curtains,
to set out the butter, soon the father sitting glumly
at the head of the table, soon the son come down
dressed in fatigues, his shaved face mirrored on the table,
soon the son dying, all the sons dying: only here
is he still there, it is still dark, the butter is still cold,
the mother’s hand paused on the blinds, which fall
slightly apart, a narrow strip of white on the dark floor,
the light’s arm on the carpet like a man
reaching to touch his lover’s beard.