For Nika Turbina
The light fell from the fifth balcony
Crushed and lonely in the summer dusk
The dust stirred and the echoes of the fall
Cried out in the agony of the ensuing silence
Here lies Nika, a child soul lost in the world
Still seeking a father, a hope
A nurturing hand to guide her from the torment
Of childhood dreams crushed like a flower
Strewn on concrete gray, the red blood of love
Forlorn, forgotten in memories of a child prodigy
Her poetry a first draft of anguish
Caught in spellbinding lyrics
The craft of a genius in the hand of a child
Such promise, such freshness, such craft
But what shadowy fear, the mystery of that tear
Shed by Nika Turbina, twenty seven and dead