Now follow me into that blessed land wherein tradition places Paradise,
and wherein I also placed it, until I found that it lay in thine eyes,
thou, mine Edlitam!
Follow me to the banks of the Senghi and Araxes, rich in bloom, sacred
in tradition; where I sought for rest after long wandering in the mazes
of a strange land, until I knew that rest is nowhere to be found but in
one's own bosom; follow me into the gardens where Noah once planted the
vine for his own enjoyment and heart's delight, and for the gladness of
all subsequent races of toiling men; follow me through the steep
mountain-paths overhung with glaciers, to the arid table-lands of
Ararat, where, clad in a garment red as blood, on his steed of nimble
thigh, the wild Kurd springs along, with flashing glance and sunburnt
face, in his broad girdle the sharp dagger and long pistols of Damascus,
and in his practiced hand the slender, death-slinging lance of
Bagdad--where the nomad pitches his black tent, and with wife and child
cowers round the fire that scares away the beasts of the
wilderness--where caravans of camels and dromedaries wend their way,
laden with the treasures of the Orient, and guided by watchful leaders
in wide many-colored apparel--where the Tartar, eager for spoil, houses
in hidden rocks, or in half-subterranean, rudely excavated huts; follow
me into the fruitful valleys, where the sons of Haïghk, like the
children of Israel, far from the corruption of cities, still live in
primeval simplicity, plough their fields and tend their flocks, and
practice hospitality in Biblical pureness; follow me to Ararat, which
still bears the diluvian Ark upon his king-like, hoary head--follow me
into the highlands of Armenia!
In Paradise we will be happy, and refresh our eyes with a glance at the
fair daughters of the land; and at the grave of Noah we will sit down,
the drinking-horn in our hand, a song on our lips, and joyous confidence
in our hearts; for the God who once when the whole world deserved
hanging favored mankind with a watery grave, and suffered only Noah to
live because he cultivated the vine and rejoiced in love and drinking,
will also to us, who cherish like desires, be as favorable as to the
father of post-diluvian men.