Moushegh Ishkhan

Moushegh Ishkhan Poems

Moushegh Ishkhan Biography

Moushegh Ishkhan (Armenian: Մուշեղ Իշխան) (born as Jenterejian, 1914 Sivrihisar - 1990 Beirut) was an Armenian Diasporan poet, writer and educator. Orphaned during the Armenian Genocide at the age of two, Ishkhan was raised in Beirut, Lebanon. He graduated from the local Armenian seminary. He studied at the University of Brussels since 1938, but World War II interrupted his studies and in 1940 he returned to Beirut. His first book of poems was published in 1936. He also published plays, novels, and a series of textbooks on Armenian literature in addition to his well-known poetry. An Ishkhan Museum is opened at Yerevan school No. 5 named after Moushegh Ishkhan. According to Ishkhan, in the absence of territory for Armenian diaspora it is language that functions as the 'space' for imagining the nation: "The Armenian language is the home and haven where the wanderer can own roof and wall and nourishment...".)

The Best Poem Of Moushegh Ishkhan

The Armenian Language

The Armenian language is the home
and haven where the wanderer can own
roof and wall and nourishment.
He can enter to find love and pride,
locking the hyena and the storm outside.
For centuries its architects have toiled
to give its ceilings height.
How many peasants working
day and night have kept
its cupboards full, lamps lit, ovens hot.
Always rejuvenated, always old, it lasts
century to century on the path
where every Armenian can find it when he's lost
in the wilderness of his future, or his past.

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