Suspicious Spirits Land Poem by Tor Magnor Solvang

From ancient times, a curious case,
Russians looked out, with changing face.
To lands afar, their eyes would stray,
Then draw back quick, and turn away.

When faith was all, and worlds apart,
They saw the stranger, with a wary heart.
The West, with creeds they did not share,
The East, a shadow, filled with care.

In Moscow's walls, a special place,
For those who spoke with foreign grace.
'The mute ones, ' called, in lanes apart,
Their different tongues, a distant art.

They feared the touch, the whispered word,
That might corrupt what they had heard.
Of holy truths, and ways of old,
A guarded story, to be told.