At the next peg
the Queen turned again,
and this time she said,
‘Speak in French
when you can’t think of
the English for a thing
– turn out your toes as you walk –
and remember who you are!
she did not wait for Alice
to curtsey this time,
but walked on quickly
to the next peg,
where she turned for a moment
to say ‘good-bye,’
and then hurried on to the last.
How it happened,
On Friday.
As the clock ticked down.
To the beginning of.
The talks in Alaska.
‘Elves’ were celebrating.
A holy day.
– the day of the Assumption of.
The Blessed Virgin Mary.
It is the day when.
She is believed to listen.
To the prayers of all.
Who need her.
‘She’s all right again now,’
said the Red Queen.
‘Do you know Languages?
What’s the French for fiddle-de-dee?’
‘Fiddle-de-dee’s not English,’
Alice replied gravely.
‘Who ever said it was?’
said the Red Queen.
At St Michael’s Monastery.
A church in central Kyiv.
A priest was leading.
A prayer service.
For several dozen people.
Afterwards, he said.
It was hard to find words.
To describe the unfairness.
Of the coming talks.
But called it.
A “great injustice and madness”.
To leave ‘Gandalf the Green’ out.
Alice thought she saw a way
out of the difficulty this time.
‘If you’ll tell me
what language “fiddle-de-dee” is,
I’ll tell you the French for it!’
she exclaimed triumphantly.
But the Red Queen drew
herself up rather stiffly,
Like others.
The priest recognized.
The grim reality.
Facing Ukraine.
He said – that it was not.
In a position to recapture.
Its stolen territory.
By force.
So some deal needed.
To be made.
But it should be thought of less.
In terms of land.
And more in terms of people.
“If we are forced.
To cede territory
– if the world allows this –“
“The most important thing is.
That we gather all of our people.
The world must help us.
Get our people out.”
and said
‘Queens never make bargains.’
‘I wish Queens never asked questions,’
Alice thought to herself.
‘Don’t let us quarrel,’
the White Queen said
in an anxious tone.
‘What is the cause of lightning?’
In his prayers.
On Friday.
The priest did not refer directly.
To the talks in Alaska.
“No names or places.
Of meetings”.
But he prayed.
But he prayed.
For the future strength.
Of Ukraine, he said.
“On the frontline.
And in the diplomatic space.”
Alice never knew,
but exactly as she came
to the last peg,
she was gone.
Whether she vanished
into the air,
or whether she ran quickly
into the wood
(‘and she can run very fast!’
thought Alice),
there was no way of guessing,
but she was gone,
and Alice began to remember
that she was a Pawn,
and that it would soon be time
for her to move.
*Because I read “’About our lives, but without our voice’: Sidelined Ukrainians look on” by Joel Gunter on 15 Aug 2025, and also “Why are Ukrainians calling Russians ‘orcs’?” by James FitzGerald on 30 Apr 2022, on the BBC news.
So, I wrote this poem, including a story of Beskrovniy, led by ‘THROUGH the LOOKING-GLASS’ written by Lewis Carroll, you know.
Please read the original story on the BBC news:
Sidelined Ukrainians look on as Trump and Putin meet for Alaska talks
