Colin Mackay

and my weaker half cried to you, Svetlana
shield me, shield me
between your serene breasts
with the calm of your woman's strength,
with the calm of your river
and your village, its ancient hearth
when day explodes around us
in all the plains of the sun.
------------
In the burnt-out cafe
stray pigs from a nearby farm feed
on Ivan the chef and his two pretty waitresses.
Somewhere
the thud of mortars
somewhere the splatter of shots,
the screaming of an incoming shell,
but beyond the blackened hole
where the window used to be
under the still-functioning Coca-Cola sign
the pigs feed on.
------------
the office will be having its coffee break
about now and the Number 27 bus
will be halfway up Dundas Street
and no one will believe that
any of these things are happening
in the same world as the office
and the 27 bus.

--from Cold Night Lullaby
ISBN 0-906772-86-9