Where are the Soviets?

[Written during 2008 trip to Lithuania]

I look out the window

And I see flowers

Each morning the old woman

Sweeps the sidewalks

Children with colorful

Happy hats, run in the park

The buildings are dressed in new

Colors of white, yellow and pink

Automobiles, fast and modern ones,

Roar past other parked ones

Food is bountiful, fresh,

Rich and delicious

Music from hand-carved flutes

Sing melodies in the open air

The people, all of them,

Are beautiful and wear smiles

The soviets went away

And they took away the sadness