Bus to Baravoye
The giants walked here
On the road and left the fields pristine
Except for the occasional pool of a footstep
In the distance,
Occasioned by black storks.
Yesterday we littered
Snickers bar wrappers
In the grass while
The boys peed on the shoulder and
The girls, behind a line of plain trees.
They said that one day's journey from here
You would find the seat where Ablai Khan
Ruled, from the base of the mountain
But I didn't believe them then
Because we came after the men, who
Left behind the remains of car jacks and pulleys
Tired of resurrecting life from buses.
Outside
Spider star lights along the diverted river
Concrete bank, the same place where children swim
When it's too hot to do anything else.
When it's too hot for dogs, usually impatient
With the silent tread of strangers outside the gate
And when the trees darken with roosts
Marking their spots in drops.
Where men spread blankets
And sleep in the laps of women
While the sun becomes invisible.
It's only the gypsy children awake
In the shade of the Heroes monument
Soldiers bursting out of rock,
Star studded light silhouetted heads
Moving about.
Here, here lie the heads.
Here, here lie the hands.
Here, here...
