LASSITUDE
(for Osip Mandelstam
in Memoriam)

Enough of weariness
with floodlights
to pierce our shadows
against the sun
when the Neva waters
rise out of our shades
of uprootedness
exile our poets
smashing heavy icons
of winter's prey
pockets our ironies
from our generation's psyche
to embrace loss
in an absence of lives
from our scars
letting lethargy
spill over and wave on
intertwined myths
of historical animation
in memory, nature, love
we, like thunderous Mars
turn our words
into red wreaths
at graveside.