They Fell

They fell that year

They vanished from the Earth

Never knowing the code

Or what law they'd offended

The women fell at work

And the babies they tended

Left to die, left to cry

All condemned by their birth

They fell like rain

Across the thirsty land

In their hearts they were clean

In their dust still believing

All the obedient things

In a season of grieving

Caught in rain, always rain

Just for one helping hand

For no one heard their prayers

In a world bent on pleasure

From other people scared

They simply closed their eyes

They craved a lot of sound

In jazz and ragtime measured

The trumpets screamed till dawn

To drown the childrens' cries

They fell like leaves

Its people in its pride

People, men, kindly men

And not one knew his crime

If he came in an hour

Like a small desert flower

Still covered by the silent wind

In sands of time

They fell that year

Before they could grow

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 sun

Like a dog each flies

In the path of a rifle

That holds on with its might

And each death, though 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 pride

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 pride

Of massacre and war

Their only crime was life

They only give towards being

The children of Armenia

Nothing less, nothing more