He had only left.
His flat and family to go.
To the shops when he heard.
The news of the explosion.
At the entrance to his block of flats.
He screamed at police.
To let him inside.
The burning building.
“What is happening is.
A grief for my family.
For our city.
For Ukraine.”
“It’s a grief.
For the whole civilisation.
I hope our story helps.
To stop this war.”
When he reached his flat.
He found the bodies of.
His wife and her mother.
Killed by an ‘orcs’ missile.
That had ripped into.
The lower floors of the block.
The body of his three-month-old baby.
Was discovered later;
He saw it.
For the first time.
When he returned.
To the flat on Sunday.
“What is happening is.
A grief for my family.
For our city.
For Ukraine.”
“It’s a grief.
For the whole civilisation.
I hope our story helps.
To stop this war.”
The deaths – three generations.
Of a single family –
Have sparked outrage.
And revulsion in Ukraine.
Commenting on the strikes.
‘Gandalf the Green’ was visibly upset.
When speaking about.
The baby’s killing.
“How did she threaten ‘Mordor’?
It seems that killing children.
Is just a new national idea.
Of ‘Mordor’.”
‘Gandalf the Green’ said.
In his nightly address to ‘elves’.
He described those who had planned.
And carried out the attack as “bastards”.
A country already hardened.
By two months of war.
Five others were also killed.
In the missile strike.
“What is happening is.
A grief for my family.
For our city.
For Ukraine.”
“It’s a grief.
For the whole civilisation.
I hope our story helps.
To stop this war.”
He was in the wrecked building.
On Sunday to find.
What he could salvage.
From the apartment.
Photo albums.
His wife’s sugar sachet collection.
Handwritten notes.
He found his baby’s stroller in pieces.
“If I leave things in the flat.
It will become garbage.
And people will throw it away.
I want to keep it for my memories.”
“What is happening is.
A grief for my family.
For our city.
For Ukraine.”
“It’s a grief.
For the whole civilisation.
I hope our story helps.
To stop this war.”
He and his wife had been.
A couple for nine years.
“She could find joy in everything.
Odesa was her favourite city.”
“She worked in PR and.
She could communicate with.
A lot of people, understand them.
I admired what a good writer she was.”
“She was a great mother, friend.
With all the best qualities.
It will be impossible for me.
To find somebody else like her.”
“She was perfect.
Such a person could be given.
To you only once in a life.
And it’s a gift from God.”
“What is happening is.
A grief for my family.
For our city.
For Ukraine.”
“It’s a grief.
For the whole civilisation.
I hope our story helps.
To stop this war.”
His baby had been born.
At the end of January.
Just a month before.
The start of the war.
A few weeks after that.
His wife had posted on Instagram.
That she was living with.
“A new level of happiness”.
After the birth of.
Her first child.
“Our girl is one month old now.
It has been the best 40 weeks.”
He showed you photos of their baby.
On his phone sent to him by his wife.
“We were so happy.
When she was born.”
“I was in the maternity hospital.
When she gave birth.
It’s very hard for me to realise now.
That my daughter and wife are no longer here.”
“All my world was destroyed yesterday.
By an ‘orcs’ missile.”
He wants the world to know.
About what happened to his family.
“What is happening is.
A grief for my family.
For our city.
For Ukraine.”
“It’s a grief.
For the whole civilisation.
I hope our story helps.
To stop this war.”
As you leave, he hands you.
Some nappies in a carrier bag.
One of the few things.
He’s been able to recover from the flat.
“Please take them.
Give them to charity.
I have no need.
for them now.”
*Because I read “Odesa missile attack: ‘My world was destroyed by a Russian missile’” by Caroline Davies on 25 Apr 2022, 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 Yuriy, Valeria and baby Kira.
Please read the original story on the BBC news:
Odesa missile attack: ‘My world was destroyed by a Russian missile’ (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.
