A heavily pregnant woman.
Being carried.
On a stretcher.
Through the rubble.
After the maternity hospital.
In Mariupol was bombed.
It has become a defining photograph.
Of the war in the Ukraine.
It symbolised the true horror.
Of the conflict and.
For a while, no-one knew.
Who she was.
“She loved life.
She was happy.
She was a go-getter and.
She was the best for me.”
She was seriously injured.
In the airstrike.
On the hospital.
On 9 March.
And later died.
Along with her baby.
Who was delivered.
By emergency Caesarean section.
“She loved life.
She was happy.
She was a go-getter and.
She was the best for me.”
An engineer at the steelworks.
In Mariupol.
Her husband has sought sanctuary.
And is living in Porthcawl, Bridgend county.
He described feeling.
“Completely destroyed”.
After his wife.
And newborn son were killed.
“She loved life.
She was happy.
She was a go-getter and.
She was the best for me.”
She was a manager of a clothes shop.
In Mariupol.
And was very excited to be having.
The couple’s first child.
“We were really happy and joyful.
We had been waiting for.
This baby for a long time.
And finally we had it.”
The couple were expecting a boy.
And had named him Miron.
After ‘orcs’ word mir.
Meaning peace.
“She loved life.
She was happy.
She was a go-getter and.
She was the best for me.”
He described the moment.
He was told the devastating news by doctors.
“The pain and loss.
I don’t know how to describe it.
“I was completely destroyed.
I was disappointed in everything.
I couldn’t believe it.
That she could die.”
“She loved life.
She was happy.
She was a go-getter and.
She was the best for me.”
The couple had been trying for years.
To have a child.
And she begged not to be saved.
After learning her baby had not survived.
He said when he sees the photo.
Of her on the stretcher.
“I feel pain, anger.
I just don’t know how to live and go ahead”.
“She loved life.
She was happy.
She was a go-getter and.
She was the best for me.”
He added: “They were buried together.
In Mariupol in a cemetery.
But her parents wanted to bury.
Her closer to them.”
“So they reburied her and the baby.
Together in her parent’s village.”
He moved to Porthcawl in September.
After getting his biometric residence permit.
“She loved life.
She was happy.
She was a go-getter and.
She was the best for me.”
“Life here is fine, normal.
People here are really kind and helpful.
And I think I am lucky.
To be here.”
“I plan to find a job now.
I have the permit and.
Try and move on.
With my life.”
But he said.
It was impossible.
To imagine a future.
Without her.
“I don’t have much hope at the moment.
And I haven’t got used.
To the idea that.
I am alone.”
“She loved life.
She was happy.
She was a go-getter and.
She was the best for me.”
“I would say to ‘the One’.
‘For what?’
All of our lives we thought that.
‘Orcs’ were our brothers.”
“He just attacked us.
He killed us.
Killed our relatives.
Friends and loved ones.”
“For what? Why?”
“I would say to ‘the One’.
All of our lives we thought that.
‘Orcs’ were our brothers.”
“The baby was taken out.
Showing no signs of life.
I saw tears streaming down.
The faces of my colleagues.
An anaesthetist.
At Mariupol Regional, continued.
“It is the most terrifying thing.
I have ever seen in my life.”
“Packing a young woman.
In a black bag.
With her baby.
Who we laid over her breast.”
“For what? Why?”
“I would say to ‘the One’.
All of our lives we thought that.
‘Orcs’ were our brothers.”
*Because I read “’ Ukraine war: Refugee’s wife died at maternity hospital” by Matt Murray on 11 Nov 2022, on the BBC News, and also “Why are Ukrainians calling Russians ‘orcs’?” by James FitzGerald on 30 Apr 2022, on the BBC news.
So, I wrote this poem as a story of Irina and her husband Ivan and their baby.
Please read the original story on the BBC news:
Ukraine war: Refugee’s wife died at maternity hospital – BBC News
**My friend shows you this poem also on the Ukrainian website for their children and others!
Please join them!
