Before Sixteen

The zákaz stayed the night. Revoluční empty from one minute past. Hybernská, Na Příkopě — the curb still named for no one.

Cooler than yesterday’s warm. Fifteen at the glass. West wind low. A little cloud, not yet the rain.

Trams still take their usual turns. Sixteen will cut them. Thirteen thousand named for later — five at six, ten at half past seven —

from Obecní dům out and back. The street holds the empty first. The start has not arrived.