Charles Simic

The shadows creep across the lawn

In the silence of the afternoon.

You were afraid to open, but when you did,

There she was asking to borrow a candle. 

There was a time when I thought the Serbs would never get rid of Miloševic. Dictators give the impression of permanence. They convince themselves and the rest of us that they are going to be around forever. “Long live,” their enthusiastic...