The Czar and Czarina's lost heirlooms shine
behind glass. Archaeologists found them
with their skeletons in a Siberian forest.

Will I ever know my mother and father's
days and nights? I want something of them,
a gold-rimmed goblet, a ruby ring,

whatever bits remain. When I was a child,
a glass candle burnt twice a year, the mystery
of their marriage in each sputtering flame.