They Fell

Justice March 2011

They fell that year, they vanished from the earth,
Never knowing the cause, or what laws they’d offended,
The women fell as well, and the babies they tendered,
Left to die, left to cry, all condemned by their birth.
They fell like rain, across the thirsty land,
In their heart they were slain, in their God still believing,
All their pity and pain, in that season of grieving,
All in vain, all in vain, just for one helping hand.

For no one heard their prayers, in a world bent on pleasure,
From other peoples care, they simply closed their eyes,
They create a lot of sound, in jazz and right time measure,
The trumpets screamed till dawn, to drown the children’s cries.
They fell like leaves, its people, in its prime,
Simple man, kindly man, and not one knew his crime,
They became in an hour, like the small desert flower,
Soon covered by the silent wind, in sands of time.
They fell that year, before a cruel foe,
They had little to give, but their lives, and their passion,
And their longing to live, in their way, in their fashion,
So their harvest could thrive, and their children could grow.

They fell like flies, their eyes still full of sound,
Like a dove in its flight, in the path of a rifle,
That holds on with its might, as if death were a trifle,
And to bring to an end, a life barely begun.
And I am of that race, who died in unknown places,
Who perished in their pride, whose blood in rivers ran,
In agony and fright, with courage on their faces
They went into the night, that waits for every man.

They fell like tears, and never knew what for,
In that summer of strife, of massacre and war,
Their only crime was life, their only guilt was fear,
The children of Armenia, nothing less nothing more.

Charles Aznavour