6

 
It must be cool inside the House of Ice
(stalactite pleasantry, in Petersburg).
We were married there, on a barge,
by decree.  The Empress flung the rice

 
herself.  The Patriarch was very nice.
We were as Swedes in Sweden (washed
and plush).  - "Dreams are hash!"
jabbed Hamlet suddenly, at minstrel mice –

 
thus endeth our parade.  A table set
amidst mine enemies (in Courland, wee duchy).
A cup and a signet seal.  Promissory,
sped across nimble floes (writ from the heart).

                 
                   *

 
We hushed ourselves, behind a hedge of speech.
The Empress collected dwarves, antiquities,
eunuchs, slaves (she loved the country
ditties, too), everything within reach

 
was reached for.  Tall toy soldiers
tumbled out of tumultuous versets –
uniform figures, in pungent vermilion
and puce, new-fangled armor... curious!

 
Along the brooding river, wayward light
dangled from a drowning sun.  So
the earth (formed long ago for everyone)
stoked her furnace for a rainy night.