Tallinn

Happiness is being alive is a national saying.
Suitcases sculpture outside the museum.
Estonia declared independence
for the second time in a century

when the old Soviet Union wasn’t looking.
Thirty-thousand taken from their homes,
sent to Siberia in cattle trucks
in 1941 and 1949.

One of the last heathen lands in Europe,
now one of the most secular,
beset by invasions, occupations,
deportations, stag weekends.

Estonians pride themselves
on their sarcastic sense
of humour, as well as
their Baltic sprats and herrings.