IMPROVISATION #36
(In Memory Anna Akhmatova
1889-1996)

The trees breathe
on us
under shooting stars
the moon illumined
by your mirrored eyelashes
witnessing Kingfisher birds
along the Neva
with wounds
of a hundred silent scars
she notices
outside a bridal path
as a cat slips out
of a flower garden
and street lights are dim
inside a bride stamps
her passport
as Anna sings to Mandelstam
a quiet Russian hymn
on his birthday
with Nadezhda on his side.