Ballad of the Beetles

2026-03-18 - 14:41

On Zangezur’s slopes where the high winds commence, Treads the dark pilgrim, Dorcadion sisianense Across crimson hills where the late sunsets condense, Moves slow and steadfast Dorcadion syunikense Near Jermuk’s cool springs where the bright waters dispense, Runs quick as a whisper Trechus dzermukensis Through mountain-held soil, old, shadowed, and dense, Burrows the patient Trechus magniceps In Ararat sands where the hot winds grow tense, Wanders iron-clad Armenohelops armeniacus Through grasses that sway with a silvery suspense, Leaps light-footed Longitarsus violentoides By Geghard’s dark cliffs where the swallows wheel immense, Burns emerald bright Sphenoptera geghardica’s presence Along the calm banks where the Araks flows immense, Feeds the quiet Cryptocephalus araxicola with patience So through Armenia’s valleys where old mountains stand immense, Marches the sentinel Pterostichus capitatus in silence From forest root deep to the desert’s far fence, Live Armenia’s beetles, small, eternal, immense