Wiegenlied

For Sasha Stepanova

It is now half past midnight in
die Eidgenossenschaft.

The birds are sleeping;
the bees are sleeping;
and nobody mourns.

The city drifts
past soft purple clouds.


And here, in The Harbour City,
honk horns; it’s half past three.

The cars are rushing;
they’re so very loud;
they want to be free.


For now, sound asleep in your bed;
’til dawn, neither alive

nor dead; but a third
secret thing, your breath
buffets wrens; turns leaves

in eaves; chases away the clouds;
falls and rises again.