SQUARES OF FUŽINE Poem by Peter Semolič

are oases of silence, oases of peace,
as the night on the East grows pale.

Squares of Fužine are pale flowers
under the first break of dawn.

Squares of Fužine are solitary routes
of early workers and late-night lovers.

Squares of Fužine are the haste of going
and the slow, perhaps secret arrival.

Across the squares of Fužine
a mild wind from the faraway Alps blows

and sifts through the fallen newspaper leaves.