I am given ten cubic meters of darkness
every night I pace over them obediently

until the Sun presses its golden electroset to the panes
and the garden is covered by compassionate mist

the floor long since worn out boards bleached white
like the bones of saints submissively rest side by side

disintegrating in corners are unworn violet wings
above which the carousel of moths is silent

Pēters Brūveris was born in Riga in 1957 and has published eight collections of poetry. He has won numerous awards and written books for children, texts for animated films, librettos, and song lyrics.

Inara Cedrins is an artist, writer, and translator of Latvian descent. Her anthology of contemporary Latvian poetry written while Latvia was under Soviet occupation was published by the University of Iowa Press. She is currently working on a new Baltic anthology.