Our Theme Song

“The Cowboy’s Lament” by C.K. Garabed

This tune, “The Cowboy’s Lament,” demonstrates a cowboy’s love and longing for his native land. Many will recognize that every word not only applies to the American West but Armenia and Camp Bjni specifically.

This is no coincidence: The composer and singer of this tune, the late C.K. Garabed, had the American West and Armenia in mind when he composed it. He was an early supporter of the concept of Camp Bjni and also a benefactor. We are happy to make this tune our Camp anthem.

Illustration by Bill Terian for The Armenian Weekly

C.K. Garabed (1927-2022), pen name of Charles Garabed Der Kasbarian, was an independent-thinking Armenian-American patriot who devoted his life to acting in the national interest of both countries. A portion of his vast library is housed the Yerevan State University Library in the Republic of Armenia. To view a segment of Garabed’s lecture about the meaning of Armenian surnames, visit: Where do Armenian Surnames come from? His full website can be accessed here: C.K. Garabed – Armeniapedia

The Cottage

by Misak Medzarents

Միսաք Մեծարենցի <<խրճիթը>>

Medzarents (1886 –1908) was a leading Western Armenian neo-romantic poet. This poem was translated from the Western Armenian by Aram Tolegian

I wish I were a cottage

On a road in some field

Or a cottage below some hill –

A wayside place for travelers

Alone on their way.

I wish I could call my concern

To the harried travelers,

And on the winding golden road

Make them welcome,

Smoke billowing from my chimney.

I wish I could give comfort

To weary travelers,

And in exchange for their greeting

Do them a thousand kind turns.

Yes, do a thousand good turns,

The fire logs crackling,

The crop of fertile fields,

All the fruits of autumn

And milk and honey and wine.

I wish I might listen till daybreak

To their praise of the fire,

The song of the traveler at evening,

And asleep, wrapped in dreams,

I wish I could send off at daybreak,

The nightfall corner.

And I wish I might hear at daybreak,

Cordial and happy,

The praise of one who comes at nightfall,

And, at daybreak, see

And wonder all through the night

About the departure of the one who comes at evening.

And patiently all through winter, too,

I wish I might stand along the roadside

With my arms outstretched wide

And in the stance of the beaming beckoner,

Offer the warmth and ready cheer

My fatherly invitation to a frostbitten traveler –

I wish I could always be taken for

The one who beckons travelers to his door.

Oh, if only I could be, could ever be

On a road in some place,

At the foot of some hill,

So that for those who travel

I could be the waiting cottage.