Was it only blind bad luck?
Vanished. What does that mean?
Was it only blind bad luck?
Disappeared. What was that cause?
A father went out on an errand,
and didn’t return.
In the village of Hurivshchyna.
She is waiting for her father.
“He left home and never came back.
And nobody saw him anywhere.”
He lived a few houses over in the village.
But “Not dead, not alive. Like into thin air.”
Was it only blind bad luck?
Vanished. What does that mean?
Was it only blind bad luck?
Disappeared. What was that cause?
A brother took petrol to a friend,
and never arrived.
In the village of Shpytky.
She is waiting for her brother.
On the shoulder of the highway.
His car was riddled with bullet holes.
It had been burned through.
But there were no signs of a body.
Was it only blind bad luck?
Vanished. What does that mean?
Was it only blind bad luck?
Disappeared. What was that cause?
In the villages, west of Kyiv.
‘Orcs’ occupied for a month.
People are haunted by the missing.
Nothing but a desperate wait.
One by one, it has become clear.
‘Orcs’ took some into ‘Mordor’.
Hoping for finding on the list.
Until that call, all people can do is wait.
*Because I read “In Ukrainian villages, a desperate wait for news of the missing” by Joel Gunter in Kyiv, Ukraine, on 3 May 2022, and also “Why are Ukrainians calling Russians ‘orcs’?” by James FitzGerald on 30 April 2022, on the BBC news.
So, I wrote this poem as a story of Maria and her family, and a story of Yulia and her family, and also other families in any villages, west in Kyiv.
Please read the original story on the BBC news:
In Ukrainian villages, a desperate wait for news of the missing – BBC News
**My friend shows you this poem also on the Ukrainian website for their children and others!
Please join them!
