“For while the tired waves, vainly breaking,
Seem here no painful inch to gain,
Far back, through creeks and inlets making,
Comes silent, flooding in, the main.
And not by eastern windows only,
When daylight comes, comes in the light:
In front the sun climbs slow, how slowly!
But westward, look, the land is bright.”
‘Mordor’ and Ukraine.
Exchanged 205.
Prisoners of war.
On Friday.
Hours after.
Rescue workers ended.
Their search of.
A destroyed block of flats.
In Kyiv.
In which 24 people.
Were killed.
Including three girls.
There was silence supreme! Not a shriek, not a scream,
Scarcely even a howl or a groan,
As the man they called “Ho!” told his story of woe
In an antediluvian tone.
Most of the ‘elves’ prisoners.
Had been held.
Since 2022.
Said ‘Gandalf the Green’.
The swap was part of.
A short-lived ceasefire.
Ending this week.
Ending this week.
With the launch of.
Massive ‘orcs’ strikes.
Across Ukraine.
Including a missile attack.
That reduced 18 flats.
To rubble.
That reduced 18 flats.
To rubble.
Among the victims was.
A 12-year-old girl.
Whose father was killed.
During the war.
“My father and mother were honest, though poor—”
“Skip all that!” cried the Bellman in haste.
“If it once becomes dark, there’s no chance of a Snark—
We have hardly a minute to waste!”
Meanwhile.
‘Orcs’ officials said.
Four people.
Including a child.
Were killed when.
‘Elves’ drones hit.
The city of Ryazan.
South-east of Moscow.
“I skip forty years,” said the Baker, in tears,
“And proceed without further remark
To the day when you took me aboard of your ship
To help you in hunting the Snark.
Images on social media.
Showed damage.
To two blocks of flats.
Which the Ryazan Governor said.
Had been damaged.
By debris.
Twenty-eight people.
Were hurt in the attack.
‘Elves’ drone commander said.
His forces had hit.
Ryazan’s oil refinery.
– one of the biggest in ‘Mordor’.
“A dear uncle of mine (after whom I was named)
Remarked, when I bade him farewell—”
“Oh, skip your dear uncle!” the Bellman exclaimed,
As he angrily tingled his bell.
Rescue services.
In the Darnytskyi district.
Of south-east Kyiv.
Completed their search.
Of the rubble of.
A devastated nine-storey.
Apartment block.
On Friday.
Throughout the 28-hour operation.
Residents and soldiers.
Looked on, waiting for.
News of missing relatives.
“He remarked to me then,” said that mildest of men,
“‘If your Snark be a Snark, that is right:
Fetch it home by all means—you may serve it with greens,
And it’s handy for striking a light.
Kyiv was marking.
A day of mourning.
A day of mourning.
On Friday.
For the 24 victims.
Of the strike.
For the 24 victims.
Of the strike.
“‘You may seek it with thimbles—and seek it with care;
You may hunt it with forks and hope;
You may threaten its life with a railway-share;
You may charm it with smiles and soap—’”
The Nova Poshta postal service said.
Two of its staff.
Had been killed.
In the attack.
One of them.
Alongside his wife.
A former hockey player.
And his 24-year-old girlfriend.
An English teacher.
Were among the victims.
A kindergarten teacher.
Was also killed.
The three girls.
Who died.
Were 12, 15.
And 15.
(“That’s exactly the method,” the Bellman bold
In a hasty parenthesis cried,
“That’s exactly the way I have always been told
That the capture of Snarks should be tried!”)
The 12-year-old victim’s.
Elder sister was.
Initially declared missing.
In the rubble.
And it was later reported.
That she too.
Had been killed.
Had been killed.
The girls’ school said that.
The “scariest face of war.
Is the children’s lives.
It takes”.
“‘But oh, beamish nephew, beware of the day,
If your Snark be a Boojum! For then
You will softly and suddenly vanish away,
And never be met with again!’
Among those.
Bringing flowers.
To the scene was.
‘Gandalf the Green’.
Who said pressure.
Had to be brought.
To bear on.
A ‘Mordor’ that.
“Deliberately destroys.
Lives and hopes.
To remain unpunished”.
To remain unpunished”.
“It is this, it is this that oppresses my soul,
When I think of my uncle’s last words:
And my heart is like nothing so much as a bowl
Brimming over with quivering curds!
‘Gandalf the Green’ said.
The building had been.
Practically levelled.
To the ground.
Practically levelled.
To the ground.
By an ‘orcs’ X-101.
Cruise missile.
“It is this, it is this—“ “We have had that before!”
The Bellman indignantly said.
And the Baker replied “Let me say it once more.
It is this, it is this that I dread!
Most of the 18 flats.
Destroyed in Thursday’s strike.
Were single-room apartments.
Or the bathrooms.
And kitchens of.
Two-room apartments.
An entrance to the building.
Was reduced to rubble.
The Prime Minister.
Praised rescuers.
For saving the lives.
Of 30 people.
“I engage with the Snark—every night after dark—
In a dreamy delirious fight:
I serve it with greens in those shadowy scenes,
And I use it for striking a light:
One of the first people.
To reach the scene.
Of the strike.
A 18-year-old boy.
Rushed to the block.
With his father.
To help rescue.
The victims.
“A fire was burning.
And there was smoke everywhere.
I helped a policeman.
Lower a disabled woman.”
“To safety.
She couldn’t walk.
And the policeman carried.
Her in his arms.”
“But if ever I meet with a Boojum, that day,
In a moment (of this I am sure),
I shall softly and suddenly vanish away—
And the notion I cannot endure!”
‘Gandalf the Green’ said.
The ‘orcs’ missile.
Had been produced.
In recent weeks.
“This means that.
‘Mordor’ is still importing.
The components needed.
For missile production.”
“As well as the necessary.
Resources and equipment.
In circumvention of.
Global sanctions.”
The Bellman looked uffish, and wrinkled his brow.
“If only you’d spoken before!
It’s excessively awkward to mention it now,
With the Snark, so to speak, at the door!
He also paid tribute.
He also paid tribute.
To the 205 ‘elves’.
Released in the first stage.
Released in the first stage.
Of a planned exchange.
Of 1,000 prisoners.
On each side.
“We should all of us grieve, as you well may believe,
If you never were met with again—
But surely, my man, when the voyage began,
You might have suggested it then?
The deal was brokered.
By the US and.
United Arab Emirates.
And ‘orcs’ defence ministry said.
That 205 ‘orcs’.
Were taken to Belarus.
Where they were being given.
Medical and psychological support.
“It’s excessively awkward to mention it now—
As I think I’ve already remarked.”
And the man they called “Hi!” replied, with a sigh,
“I informed you the day we embarked.
‘Gandalf the Green’ said.
Among those freed were ‘elves’.
Who had fought during.
The siege of Mariupol.
In the initial months.
Of ‘orcs’ full-scale invasion.
From February.
2022.
As well as in several.
Border regions and.
At the nuclear plant.
At Chornobyl.
“You may charge me with murder—or want of sense—
(We are all of us weak at times):
But the slightest approach to a false pretence
Was never among my crimes!
The swap was part of.
A three-day ceasefire that.
The two sides had agreed to.
From 9-11 May.
Which covered.
‘Orcs’ scaled-down.
Victory Day parade.
In Moscow.
“I said it in Hebrew—I said it in Dutch—
I said it in German and Greek:
But I wholly forgot (and it vexes me much)
That English is what you speak!”
The truce, which was.
Marred by a series of.
Violations, was quickly.
Forgotten this week.
When ‘orcs’ forces.
Launched their biggest.
Drone onslaught.
Since the start of the war.
“’Tis a pitiful tale,” said the Bellman, whose face
Had grown longer at every word:
“But, now that you’ve stated the whole of your case,
More debate would be simply absurd.
‘Elves’ officials said.
1,410 ‘orcs’ drones.
And 56 missiles.
Been launched.
At ‘elves’ cities.
And communities.
In just one 24-hour period.
From 13-14 May.
“The rest of my speech” (he explained to his men)
“You shall hear when I’ve leisure to speak it.
But the Snark is at hand, let me tell you again!
‘Tis your glorious duty to seek it!
Although ‘the One’ had spoken.
Last Saturday of the war.
“Heading to an end”.
“Heading to an end”.
There have been no negotiations.
Since February and.
There has been little sign of.
Any progress in recent days.
“To seek it with thimbles, to seek it with care;
To pursue it with forks and hope;
To threaten its life with a railway-share;
To charm it with smiles and soap!
‘Elves’ commentators.
Have suggested.
The escalation.
In ‘orcs’ attacks.
Was timed to coincide.
With the US President’s trip.
To Beijing for talks.
With the Chinese President.
‘Gandalf the Green’ accused.
‘Mordor’ of trying to.
“Disrupt the overall.
Political atmosphere”.
“For the Snark’s a peculiar creature, that won’t
Be caught in a commonplace way.
Do all that you know, and try all that you don’t:
Not a chance must be wasted to-day!
The Kremlin says.
‘The One’ will visit.
The Chinese President.
“Really soon”.
“Really soon”.
In the aftermath of.
The Chinese President’s talks.
With the US President.
The Spokesman said.
‘The One’ and the Chinese President.
Would focus on bilateral ties.
As well as international matters.
“For while the tired waves, vainly breaking,
Seem here no painful inch to gain,
Far back, through creeks and inlets making,
Comes silent, flooding in, the main.
And not by eastern windows only,
When daylight comes, comes in the light:
In front the sun climbs slow, how slowly!
But westward, look, the land is bright.”
*Because I read “Prisoner swap goes ahead as Kyiv mourns 24 killed in Russian strike on flats” by Mariana Matveichuk & Paul Kirby on 15 May 2026, 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 Lyubava, a story of Yuriy and Maryna, a story of Svitlana, a story of Ivan, led by “some lines” quoted in the last part of ‘CHAPTER XVIII YUGOSLAVIA AND GREECE’ in ‘The Second World War: The Classic One-Volume Abridgment’ written by Winston S. Churchill, and ‘The Hunting of the Snark’ written by Lewis Carroll, you know.
Please read the original story on the BBC news:
Prisoner swap goes ahead as Kyiv mourns 24 killed in Russian strike on flats
