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SIBERIA

"Whatever happens will be through God's will."

"We walked, and I went on skees in the yard."

"Today is carnival Sunday, with sounds of bel s.
I"
"I pitied them as human beings ..."

Yes-strong Tsaritsa;

And tearless Hemophiliac with hair like winter sun;
And erudite royal tutor Gilliard;
And you - Anatoly, stoic guard,
Who must have seen

Some sUdden unreasonable smile
Curve a princess mouth of eighteen
That could still glow; foolish, like flame
On Some final Siberian evening sky of ice ...
--We know.

The sixteenth of July.
Eyes, sleep-fogged.

The sudden slam of door,
The sudden cry--

And then, the quiet blood,
And purgatorial smoke that hid

A boy's last stretching-out of hands
Towards warm spaniel-fur ...
Why lie?
We know.

And since we know, we say--
But, oh! You went like lions!
Eyes wild-gleaming, unaware,
Not granted time to care
That it was all not fair,

To lunge, enraged, at lethal flame--
LSioonr-aerned,ings! Golden-sinking, as the sun--
Oh Romanovs!

And, since we know,
Do not remind

Of sixty-five long years ago ...
One gory night--

For pessimism is unkind.