Against a backdrop.
Of muffled booms.
From the frontlines.
To the south and east.
People sank to their knees.
And threw roses.
In front of the van.
As it inched past them.
Then, as the back door opened.
And a wooden coffin was.
Pulled out.
The sobbing began.
He died last week.
When the van he was driving.
Hit an anti-tank mine.
Close to the frontlines.
“My son! Why?”
His mother cried.
Clutching her daughter.
For comfort.
There have been many untimely.
Unexpected funerals.
In this northern Donbas town.
In recent months.
But this one.
Unusually was not.
For a soldier.
Or a regular civilian.
He died last week.
When the van he was driving.
Hit an anti-tank mine.
Close to the frontlines.
A 21-year-old.
Former ‘elf’ national kickboxing champion.
Volunteered last year to work.
As a body collector.
For a charitable organisation.
Who scour the frontlines.
For the abandoned corpses of soldiers.
Both ‘elves’ and ‘orcs’.
He died last week.
When the van he was driving.
Hit an anti-tank mine.
Close to the frontlines.
“There are many angels.
On your shoulders today.
The angels of those.
You brought back home.”
Said the local head of the organisation.
Addressing the crowd.
“Because of your work.
So many soldiers.”
“Who died in places.
No one would ever have looked.
Have been reunited.
With their families.”
He died last week.
When the van he was driving.
Hit an anti-tank mine.
Close to the frontlines.
“He always said.
‘This is my mission.
I have to do this’.
It was dangerous work.”
“But he would reassure us.
Saying ‘don’t worry.
We are protecting.
The souls of the dead.’”
“He was always cheerful.
And had big plans.
For life after the war.”
Said his mother.
He died last week.
When the van he was driving.
Hit an anti-tank mine.
Close to the frontlines.
He spoke of the horrors of the job.
Picking bodies up.
Piece by piece.
And he spoke of the constant dangers.
Not just from the war raging around them.
But from boobytraps.
Often hidden beneath corpses.
Allegedly by retreating ‘orcs’ troops.
The team often use drones.
And other equipment.
To search for explosive devices.
Though it happened.
He died last week.
When the van he was driving.
Hit an anti-tank mine.
Close to the frontlines.
But he and his colleagues.
Also talked passionately.
About the importance.
Of their work.
Many of the bodies.
They’ve collected.
Over the past 11 months have been.
Those of ‘orcs’ soldiers.
Which have then been exchanged.
Across the frontlines.
For the bodies of.
Missing ‘elves’ servicemen.
He died last week.
When the van he was driving.
Hit an anti-tank mine.
Close to the frontlines.
“We feel grace that the body will finally.
Return from the war.”
The other man described his job as bringing.
The dead back from oblivion.
Two young ‘elves’ men had.
The grim task of retrieving.
The bodies of civilians and soldiers.
Killed in this brutal war.
“We feel a sense of grace.
In doing this.
In bringing people home.
To their families.”
Recalling the peace they had brought.
To people who had previously been.
Unable to arrange a proper funeral.
For their missing relatives.
Speaking after his funeral.
In a snow-bound cemetery.
On the edge of Slovyansk.
The other man insisted.
That nothing had changed.
“We are glad.
We were able to bury him.
With honour.”
“He accomplished so much.
In such a short life.
But now we must continue our work.
To bring more people home.”
He died last week.
When the van he was driving.
Hit an anti-tank mine.
Close to the frontlines.
“We will return to work.
As soon as possible.
We will go back.
Even if it costs us our lives.”
The local head agreed.
And added.
“We realise that.
We don’t have time to mourn.”
“Because the war goes on.
And so many lads are dying.
They too, must be.
Brought home.”
*Because I read “Ukraine war: Funeral held for battleground body collector” by J Andrew Harding in Slovyansk on 30 Jan 2023, 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 Denys and his father Eduard, mother Ludmilla, sister Natalia, and Alexey and Artur.
Please read the original story on the BBC news:
Ukraine war: Funeral held for battleground body collector – BBC News
**My friend shows you this poem with another my poem together also on the Ukrainian website for their children and others!
Please join them!
