Street Scenes

Outside the metro,
the young man stands singing into a microphone
and playing a guitar in the cold.
A crowd gathers in a semicircle;
the young girls sing along
with something like joy in their eyes.

A few steps away,
a man sits on the bottom steps of the theater.
Beside him is a cane
and before him are a few coins on the ground.
With a black hat,
he quietly wipes the blood from his face.

Across the perekhod,
outside the "Kofe Khaus,"
a petite woman kneels on the sidewalk,
a dirty hood veiling her face.
Bowing, she crosses herself
and mumbles a blessing for those who pass by.

Near the newspaper vendor and the cellphone booth
an old man stands
with a small, grey goat,
which is wearing a coat
and nibbling something
out of a burlap bag.