if suddenly they went silent:

 

all the sirens
and car alarms,
and the shitting
dogs would cease
to yap, and planes
would freeze in the air

 

at exactly seven
o’clock
in the morning

 

and for a little while
after

we would hear

 

 

Translated by Rimas Užkalnis

 

the brooms

 

of thirty odd
Vilnius

 

church-
yards