What We Cannot Hear

They shove Sonya into the army jeep
one morning, one morning, one morning in May, one dime-bright morning—

they shove her
and she zigzags and turns and trips in silence

which is a soul’s noise.
Sonya, who once said, On the day of my arrest I will be playing piano.

We watch four men
shove her—

and we think we see hundreds of old pianos forming a bridge
from Arlemovsk to Tedna Street, and she

waits at each piano—
and what remains of her is

a puppet
that speaks with its fingers,

what remains of a puppet is this woman, what remains
of her (they took you, Sonya)—the voice we cannot hear—is the clearest voice.