‘It is the voice of my child!’
‘It is the voice of my child!’
the White Queen cried out
as she rushed past the King,
as she rushed past the King,
so violently that
she knocked him over
among the cinders.
‘My precious Lily!
My imperial kitten!’
and she began scrambling
wildly up the side of the fender.
‘Imperial fiddlestick!’
said the King, rubbing his nose,
which had been hurt
by the fall.
She surveys.
The mangled remains.
Of the printing press.
Which should have been busy.
Which should have been busy.
Churning out textbooks.
Ready for.
The new school year.
He had a right to be
a little annoyed with the Queen,
for he was covered with ashes
from head to foot.
Alice was very anxious
to be of use, and,
as the poor little Lily was nearly
screaming herself into a fit,
The plant.
On the edge of Kyiv.
The plant.
On the edge of Kyiv.
Was hit during the night.
By an ‘orcs’ missile.
Just as production.
Was ramping up.
To deliver.
1.3 million books.
– 10% of.
‘Elves’ schoolbooks.
she hastily picked up the Queen
and set her on the table
by the side of
her noisy little daughter.
The Queen gasped,
and sat down:
the rapid journey through the air
had quite taken away her breath
In the ashes.
In the ashes.
There is a charred page.
From an English language textbook:
“My name is William.
I’m from the UK.
My grandmother lives in Nottingham.
It’s a beautiful city.”
and for a minute or two
she could do nothing
but hug the little Lily
in silence.
As soon as she had recovered
her breath a little,
she called out
to the White King,
‘Mordor’ has hit.
Printing presses and.
Publishing houses.
Across Ukraine.
In a series of recent attacks.
Destroying 12 million books.
And damaging other icons.
Of ‘elves’ history and culture.
Local media report that.
‘Mordor’ has destroyed.
One third of all the books.
Printed in Ukraine this year.
who was sitting sulkily
among the ashes,
‘Mind the volcano!’
‘What volcano?’ said the King,
looking up anxiously
into the fire, as if
he thought that was the most
likely place to find one.
Nothing is salvageable.
At this Kyiv printing press.
Even the pages.
That survived the flames.
Have succumbed to water damage.
From firefighting or exposure.
To the elements.
From the collapsed roof.
‘Blew – me – up,’
panted the Queen,
who was still
a little out of breath.
‘Mind you come up
– the regular way –
don’t get blown up!’
don’t get blown up!’
“I believe.
It is deliberate.
On the part of.
The ‘orcs’ Federation.”
Says the woman.
A commercial director.
Of a publishing firm.
“Over the past two months.”
“Some of the largest publishing houses.
Have lost their logistics warehouses.
Where very large quantities.
Of books were stored.”
Alice watched the White King
as he slowly struggled up
from bar to bar,
till at last she said,
‘Why, you’ll be hours and hours
getting to the table,
at that rate.
I’d far better help you, hadn’t I?’
“The ‘orcs’ are also destroying.
Printing houses.
In an attempt.
To erase Ukraine.”
“To erase Ukraine.
As a nation.
But frankly.
They will not succeed.”
But the King took no notice
of the question:
it was quite clear that he could
neither hear her nor see her.
So Alice picked him up
very gently, and lifted him
across more slowly
than she had lifted the Queen,
More than 35.
Publishing facilities.
Have been hit.
Over recent weeks.
But it’s not just.
But it’s not just.
Fresh pages.
Coming under attack.
Kyiv’s Pochaina.
Second-hand book market.
Was also struck.
Wiping out hundreds.
Wiping out hundreds.
Of individual stalls.
And countless.
Treasured tomes.
that she mightn’t take
his breath away: but,
before she put him
on the table,
she thought she might
as well dust him a little,
he was so covered
with ashes.
Before firefighters had finished.
Extinguishing the blaze.
You found her.
A 28-year-old book blogger.
Raking through.
The smouldering ruins.
Seeing if anything.
Could be saved.
She said afterwards that
she had never seen
in all her life
such a face as the King made,
when he found himself
held in the air
by an invisible hand,
and being dusted:
She clutched.
A soaking copy.
Of a sci-fi novel.
“Books are saving us.”
“Books are saving us.
And losing this is.
Like losing our hearts.”
Like losing our hearts.”
he was far too much
astonished to cry out,
but his eyes and his mouth
went on getting larger and larger,
and rounder and rounder,
till her hand shook so with laughing
that she nearly let him drop
upon the floor.
Museums.
Art galleries.
Film studios.
Libraries.
And opera houses.
Have also been damaged.
At Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.
The capital’s large medieval monastery.
And cultural heritage site.
The golden domes.
Of the Dormition Cathedral.
Were hit.
‘Oh, please don’t make such faces,
my dear!’ she cried out,
quite forgetting that
the King couldn’t hear her.
quite forgetting that
the King couldn’t hear her.
‘You make me laugh so that
I can hardly hold you!
Religious artefacts were.
Moved to safety.
But a large section.
Of the roof was.
Set ablaze.
After a drone attack.
Set ablaze.
After a drone attack.
Repairs are predicted.
To cost $11.2 million.
And will take two years.
And will take two years.
And don’t keep your mouth
so wide open!
All the ashes will get into it
– there, now I think
you’re tidy enough!’ she added,
as she smoothed his hair,
and set him upon the table
near the Queen.
The site is also home.
To ‘elves’ museum.
Of books and printing.
Of books and printing.
Unesco listed the complex.
In 1990.
And added it.
To its register.
Of world heritage sites.
In danger.
In September.
2023.
The King immediately fell flat
on his back,
and lay perfectly still:
and Alice was a little alarmed
at what she had done,
and went round the room
to see if she could find
any water to throw over him.
At recent celebrations.
Marking 975 years.
Since the monastery’s founding.
The Unesco’s Director-General said.
He was “deeply saddened”.
To see “the significant damage”.
“Unesco firmly condemns.
All attacks.”
“Against cultural property.
Protected under international law.”
He told gathered dignitaries.
Including ‘Gandalf the Green’.
However, she could find nothing
but a bottle of ink,
and when she got back with it
she found he had recovered,
and he and the Queen
were talking together
in a frightened whisper
– so low, that
The Unesco’s Director-General toured.
The cathedral with.
The ‘elf’ minister of culture.
Who told you.
The cultural and.
Military impacts.
Of ‘orcs’ war.
Should not be separated.
“This is an existential war.
So ‘Mordor’ wants.
To destroy us.
As a nation.”
“To erase us.
As a nation.
Like ‘elves’ do not exist.
And have never existed.”
Alice could hardly hear
what they said.
The King was saying,
‘I assure you, my dear,
I turned cold to the very ends
of my whiskers!’
To which the Queen replied.
‘You haven’t got any whiskers.’
“That’s why.
‘Mordor’ targets.”
“That’s why.
‘Mordor’ targets.”
“Our cultural heritage.
The symbols of.
Our presence here.
For a long time.”
“They understand that.
It’s very important.
For us because.
We protect our identity.”
“We protect our culture.
And ‘Mordor’ wants to ruin.
Everything that.
It cannot appropriate.”
‘The horror of that moment,’
the King went on,
‘I shall never, never forget!’
‘You will, though,’ the Queen said,
‘I shall never, never forget!’
‘You will, though,’ the Queen said,
‘if you don’t make
a memorandum of it.’
She says ‘Mordor’.
Has attacked over.
1,900 pieces.
Of ‘elves’ heritage.
And more than 2,000.
Cultural institutions.
Digitisation is.
Part of the strategy.
To protect.
Art and literature.
To protect.
Art and literature.
And ensure children.
Can still learn.
Despite the attacks.
On physical books.
Alice looked on
with great interest
as the King took
an enormous memorandum-book
out of his pocket,
and began writing.
A sudden thought struck her,
A sudden thought struck her,
There are warnings.
There are warnings.
‘Elves’ entire publishing sector.
Is under threat and.
‘Elves’ entire publishing sector.
Is under threat and.
Needs international support.
To remain viable.
and she took hold of
the end of the pencil,
which came some way
over his shoulder,
and began writing for him.
and began writing for him.
The poor King looked
puzzled and unhappy,
At the bombed.
Kyiv printing press.
The commercial director told you.
Protecting the industry.
Protecting the industry.
Was vital to preserving.
‘Elves’ literature.
“The word is everything.”
“The word is everything.
It is our development.
Our culture.
And our historical heritage.”
“That is passed down.
From generation to generation.”
“That is passed down.
From generation to generation.”
and struggled
with the pencil
for some time
without saying anything;
but Alice was
too strong for him,
and at last he panted out
‘My dear!
In a 2021 essay.
Titled On.
The Historical Unity.
Of ‘orcs’ and ‘elves’.
‘The One’ stated that.
‘Elves’ and ‘orcs’.
Were one people.
Were one people.
And questioned.
The legitimacy of.
An independent ‘elves’.
State and culture.
I really must get
a thinner pencil.
I can’t manage
this one a bit:
it writes all manner of things
that I don’t intend-’
‘What manner of things?’
‘What manner of things?’
In a statement.
The ‘orcs’ embassy.
To the UK blamed.
Ukraine’s own government.
For damage to.
Its cultural heritage, saying.
Monuments had been dismantled.
And streets renamed.
It also claimed.
It also claimed.
Cultural sites had been used.
To conceal military facilities.
said the Queen,
looking over the book
(in which Alice had put
‘The White Knight is
sliding down the poker.
He balances very badly’),
‘That’s not a memorandum
of your feelings!’
‘Mordor’ has repeatedly denied.
Deliberately hitting.
Deliberately hitting.
Civilian targets.
Civilian targets.
Throughout the five years.
Of its full-scale invasion.
Of Ukraine.
Despite repeated and widespread.
Missile and drone attacks.
On residential buildings and.
Other civilian infrastructure.
There was a book
lying near Alice
on the table,
and while she sat
watching the White King
(for she was still
a little anxious about him,
and had the ink
all ready to throw over him,
in case he fainted again),
she turned over the leaves,
to find some part
that she could read,
‘-for it’s all in some language
I don’t know,’
she said to herself.
*Because I read “Russian strikes destroy 12 million books ahead of Ukraine’s first week back at school” by Dan Johnson on 31 Aug 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 Haidai, and a story of Liliya, led by ‘THROUGH the LOOKING-GLASS’ written by Lewis Carroll, you know.
Please read the same original story on the BBC news:
Russian strikes destroy 12 million books in Ukraine ahead of new school year
This is for today’s Knowledge Day, my friends!
