She’s learnt to.
Trust her instincts.
It’s why when.
‘Orcs’ forces entered.
Her home village of Ocheretyne.
In eastern Ukraine.
She and her family.
Decided it was time to go.
However, under heavy shelling.
She soon became separated.
From her relatives.
So she started walking.
So she started walking.
West in her slippers.
“I took a stick.
And a plank of wood.”
“I took a stick.
And a plank of wood.
For support and.
made my way.”
“My legs were carrying.
Me somehow;
I wasn’t carrying them!”
“I wasn’t carrying them!”
She would end up.
Walking 10km.
Until she was picked up.
By ‘elves’ police.
“There’s nothing left!
It’s all upside down!”
“There’s nothing left!
It’s all upside down!”
The village she left behind.
Is gradually being turned.
Into a hellscape by.
Approaching ‘orcs’ troops.
The closer they get.
The more intense.
The artillery fire becomes.
The closer they get.
Entire apartment blocks.
And houses.
Are slowly turning to.
Rubble and dust.
“My legs were carrying.
Me somehow;
I wasn’t carrying them!”
“I wasn’t carrying them!”
“As I started walking.
I had to lie down.
A couple of times.
I once lost balance.”
“And fell into the grass.
I had a sleep.
And then carried on walking.”
10km in her slippers.
She explains one of.
the officers asked.
How old she was.
How old she was.
“I said I was.
48 or 49.
He didn’t believe me!”
She says with a chuckle.
She was eventually taken.
To a shelter for some rest.
Before being reunited.
With her granddaughter.
“I’m so happy.
My grandmother is here!
We’d been looking for her.
For a long time!”
“My legs were carrying.
Me somehow;
I wasn’t carrying them!”
“I wasn’t carrying them!”
For a 98-year-old.
‘Orcs’ invasion is worse than.
The World War Two.
Which she also lived through.
Extraordinary as her journey was.
She couldn’t escape.
A telling off from.
Her younger relative.
“I won’t repeat this.”
She concedes.
“Oh no, don’t do that again!”
Was her granddaughter’s stern reply.
*Because I read “Ukrainian woman, 98, walks six miles from occupied village to safety” by James Waterhouse on 1 May 2024, 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 Lidiia and Svitlana.
Please read the original story on the BBC news:
Ukrainian woman, 98, walks six miles from occupied village to safety (bbc.com)
**My friend kindly shows you this poem in one page of the Ukrainian website for their children and others!
Please join them! You can read my 100 poems here at once.
