COLD AFTERNOON 3

1
So cold that the distant traffic
echoes even through these old walls;
the sound of the frozen landscape
machines on a slippery road
from the past to the future,
cutting through the lives
stranded on its sides.

2
So cold that the sounds of life,
even if of the rigid, metal kind,
echo through these old walls,
through this life stranded
on the side of a road I so abhorred
in Strugatskys'; the road
that cuts through time
and leaves skeletons
chained on its banks.

09.02.2021