Ukraine May 11th 2022
Summer
beckons and white storks return
Daintily picking their way through reeds
Revealing not one smidgen of concern
Re. visiting warriors’ barbarous deeds...
“There are no threats to the civilian population”.
Mykola
always left them sticks for nest construction.
Often they would build on the harvester shed
Making intricate moves of balletic seduction
Or dolorous dances to honour the dead...
“There are no threats to the civilian population”.
The sweet stench
of putrescine cannot be forgotten
One’s neighbours interred by concrete scree
Though their cadavers are turning rotten,
On the wings of storks their spirits fly free...
“There are no threats to the civilian population”.
Daintily picking their way through reeds
Revealing not one smidgen of concern
Re. visiting warriors’ barbarous deeds...
“There are no threats to the civilian population”.
Often they would build on the harvester shed
Making intricate moves of balletic seduction
Or dolorous dances to honour the dead...
“There are no threats to the civilian population”.
One’s neighbours interred by concrete scree
Though their cadavers are turning rotten,
On the wings of storks their spirits fly free...
“There are no threats to the civilian population”.
© Photo - RSPB
Moving and I like it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading it Andrew.
DeleteFucking Putrid Putin.
ReplyDeleteAdolf Hitler Reborn.
DeleteThis is beautiful and deserves to be shared. Have you sent it to your local paper? May I send it to my local paper?
ReplyDeleteYou are so generous River. You are welcome to share it my friend. The white stork is a much loved bird in Ukraine and stories of white storks are woven into Ukrainian folklore. Country people often make piles of sticks or straw to facilitate annual nest building. Please let me know if the Adelaide paper deigns to publish this poem. Thank you.
DeleteI like how you've continued using the "no threats" line -- which if I'm not mistaken you also used in a previous poem about Ukraine? It drives home the complete lack of truth and justice in the Russians' barbaric approach.
ReplyDeleteWell observed Steve. This is the third poem I have written with that official refrain take from The TASS News Agency's early reports on the "military operation" in Ukraine.
DeletePoignant.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how many more poems you will write before this terrible war ends - with a victory for Ukraine?
This was a powerful poem. It gives the reader hope that life will return as it once was for the Ukrainian people. The storks are rebuilding their nests just as the Ukrainians will one day begin rebuilding their lives...I hope! It also is a painful reminder of the present horrors.
ReplyDeleteHow is this happening? How do we let madmen have such control?
ReplyDeleteThere can be few things as abhorrent as war. Eventually nature always returns in one form or another.
ReplyDeleteThe wings on that stork are amazing to see! Your poem is well done.
ReplyDeleteDoes it take a long time to write? Do you ponder each word you are selecting and change them when you think of a better word? Do you write many drafts or do the lines just flow? I'm curious.
Melinda from Ontaria sums it up perfectly.
ReplyDelete