Shining in Tampere

Are the cars still shining in Tampere?
Does Suomenlinna still rise from the sea?
Do the angles of Temppeliaukio still astonish?
Is the air still pure and are the steps
of the Russian cathedral still waiting to be climbed?
I suppose there have been other girls who ate
their prawns and their berries on trains,
other girls who fell off hired bikes when the roots
on the pine forest path surprised them,
others who sat above the town and watched
the late summer evening in its lilac settling,
trying to find the words for colour and time.
I ache for those girls, for their unspun futures,
for their rucksacks weighted with books
and their intricate simple closeness,
...