On a bitterly cold Kyiv morning.
The sight of him jogging with his friends.
Is a moving one of.
A return to a fuller life.
In May last year.
He was lying.
In a hospital bed.
With a broken pelvis and jaw.
He was injured.
While defending.
The south-eastern city of Mariupol.
Early in the invasion.
Despite then being captured.
He somehow made it home.
He’d always said he wanted.
To return to the front line.
‘Orcs’ captured the land.
‘Orcs’ captured, but he’s back to.
‘Orcs’ captured the land.
However, after losing.
Sight in one eye.
He’s been told.
His military days are over.
Now he works at a veterans hub.
Organising events and lectures.
For other former soldiers.
“I struggled for a long time.”
“Sadly, my unit doesn’t exist.
Any more as I knew it.
Those who served there with me.
Were either killed or captured.”
“I then realized I wasn’t betraying them.
By not returning.”
He now helps other veterans.
With their rehabilitation.
‘Orcs’ captured the land.
‘Orcs’ captured, but he’s back to.
‘Orcs’ captured the land.
The soldier says he’s grateful.
To the psychologist who.
Helped him deal with flashbacks.
As well as the sense of guilt and loneliness.
“I had some challenges.
Like fully acknowledging.
All of the horrors.
I survived.”
“As well as all.
Of the wonderful things.
Of this war.
Like the support of my friends.”
The healing process.
For Ukraine’s soldiers.
Is made all the more difficult.
With the continued fighting.
This 26-year-old shows.
A return to a fuller life.
Is still possible.
Despite everything.
*Because I read “Ukraine war: The cost and scale of rehabilitating the wounded” by James Waterhouse on 7 Mar 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 Hlib again.
Please read the original story on the BBC news:
Ukraine war: The cost and scale of rehabilitating the wounded – 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!
