Prague Spring

PRAGUE SPRING

That year

            The seasons were confused in Prague.

 The calendar said

         It was August 20th, 1968,

                Summer,

                        And it was hot.

But the earlier season lingered.

It was still spring in Prague,

                And Dubcek was still

                            First Secretary

                Of the Czech Communist Party.

He assured Brezhnev,

                In Moscow,

                            That he was still loyal,

                                        Still a Communist.

But to the Czech people he promised

                There would be reforms,

                            Economic reforms,

                                        Political reforms.

                There would be freedom of speech

                            And freedom of thought.

He promised

                "Communism with a human face."

The next day turned suddenly cold.

                Moscow's tanks

                            Rolled across the border

                And into Prague.

It was August 21st, 1968,

                And that year

                            Winter came early to Prague.