Page 39 - Contrast1984v26
P. 39
Do not remind
Of regal forest-footfalls,
Of regal tears from turgid eyes,
Of regal winter-shudders,
Of screams from twelve revolvers
Which echo in the nights
Of far Ekaterinburg,
Where they lurk, enshrined ..•
Tomorrow, there will be
Hot sunshine through the trees,
At Ekaterinburg.
Tomorrow, birds will sing,
Knowing of the spring,
At Ekaterinburg.
Tomorrow, buds will bloom,
Like stars in twilight's gloom,
At Ekaterinburg--
Oh, Romanovs!
But today, I remember ...
So optimism, rest,
And let me weep;
For it is, once more, Siberia,
The sixteenth of July ...
Siberia!
The word--she cannot sleep--
For in my heart, today
And sixty-five soft years before
Are twin blue eyes of Alexis,
Looking, for the last time,
Up at hate--and ever free ...
Siberia!
Nineteen eighteen, or nineteen eighty-three--
A mangled cry.
