502 Kilometres

Cherry

By Turlough

Fri, 11 Mar 2022
  • 2530 reads
17 comments
 

502 Kilometres

 

Just up the road from my wife and me

A fire’s burning constantly

Folks just like us are in the street

No food to eat

Nowhere to sleep

Afraid to stay

Afraid to go

Nothing of their lives to show

But the clothes on their backs

And the shoes on their feet

And countless bloodstains

In the snow

And the glow

From the flames

And the charred remains

Of their homes

And the broken bones

The bullet holes

And frightened souls

The bodies lying in the street

Tears of desperation and defeat

We take them in as neighbours do

We know that this could be us too

From here to Ukraine the kilometres

Add up to a mere five hundred and two

 

Image:

'Peace' in four languages … Мир (Bulgarian), Mír (Czech), Peace (English) and Síocháin (Irish). On a World War One memorial in Ypres, Belgium.

Photographed by me.

Certificate PG
Poem
Poetry in Commotion
Other Non-fiction
Inspiration Point (work that responds to our weekly writing cue)

Comments

Submitted by Turlough on

Thank you for the cherries.

Turlough

Submitted by lenchenelf on

for all caught up in any war torn land. Yet, heart lifting, compassion makes a welcoming nest. .

Best

Lena x

 

Submitted by Turlough on

Thanks Lena. What troubles me even more now is that the victims of the refugee crisis that we already had are even more forgotten about. My mind's in tatters.

 

Turlough

Submitted by airyfairy on

A great poem has come out of those tatters, Turlough.  I so admire all our wonderful writers who have managed to put pen to paper about the situation - my mind is so tattered I can't even do that. I've attended my local Ukraine rally, sent my contribution to the DEC, signed petitions about visas etc etc...and all of it feels like howling at the moon. I agree with you about the existing refugees, and that tatters my mind even more. 

Submitted by Turlough on

Today we took a car full of clothes, blankets, nappies, medication, etc. to a collection centre in a nearby town. They have been sending trucks daily to points on the borders with Ukraine. The woman there said she was delighted with what we took but considering the scale of the problem we still felt like we were pissing into the wind. Bulgaria has refugees from other countries crossing borders from Turkey and Greece and we have very poor people of our own. 'Which way to turn?' I ask myself. I gave 10 levs to an old man in our village to cheer myself up.

Turlough

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Such tragedy brought home by your proximity. And so much of human jumping to believe hatred and misinformation, and easily hate those who are neighbours and should be understood a little. So much 'tit-for-tat-ing' too, and often again from misjudgement of others' actions in the first place.

May there be yet some who can broker reaching out to their neighbours, with humility and gentleness, and a willingness to try once more. Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Turlough on

It's that willingness to try that I hope for too Rhiannon. Sadly I fear that prejudices are too deeply engrained in Eastern Europe and right across the world. What is the point of this? In any war there is no real winner.

Turlough

Submitted by Di_Hard on

"Afraid to stay

Afraid to go"

I heard a lady talking about this, about her grandparents who being Jewish had suffered in the second World War, remembering her grandmother saying it had been so difficult deciding when to go, and then the same had happened to her. To leave behind your whole life, take only the present with you, and hope

 

Submitted by Turlough on

I can't think of a worse dilemma. How do they know that what they are going to is any better than what they are leaving behind?

I think of all those people from the Middle East and Africa who risk their lives and their children's lives to cross a wild sea in an overcrowded little boat to go to places where they will not be welcome, where they will be cold and hungry and where they will be at the mercy of human traffickers. For them to decide to do that, how bad must it be in the place they know as home and what is the final straw that leads them away?

No human should ever be faced with that decision.

Turlough

Submitted by David Kirtley on

It could so easily be any of us, and we don't know where the whole war will end up for all of us. our fragile modern peace has been shattered. Your poem expresses what so many of us are feeling and what we need to feel, so that we can all together find an eventual solution to this tragic evil mess!

Submitted by Turlough on

There might be a solution tomorrow but there'll be another war the day after. We've been looking for solutions for too long now ... since long before I was born. 

Thank you for your comment David. I hope there are happier times ahead of us.

 

Turlough

Submitted by Frances Macaula... on

Such a difficult subject, so well expressed, Turlough.  I haven't found words of my own to share such horror - the feelings.  But you have, perfectly, so I don't need to anymore.  I can share yours, thank you. Cherries well deserved too.   Stay safe and well.  Peace to all. 

Soundcloud:  https://soundcloud.com/search?q=FrancesMF

Submitted by Turlough on

Thank you Frances for taking the time to read and your kind comment.

I can understand why you haven't been able to find the words. When I was writing my own I my mind was filled with sadness and anger. I couldn't get the words out quick enough. Having re-read my poem I can see ways in which I could have made it more polished but as it is it will always remind me of how I was feeling as I wrote it.

I'm struggling to write anything else at the moment as these awful events are never far from my thoughts.

 

Turlough

Submitted by marandina on

Such a powerful poem, so well articulated. Super work, Turlough. Paul

 

Submitted by Turlough on

Thanks very much Paul.

Turlough

Submitted by Frances Macaula... on

 

Soundcloud:  https://soundcloud.com/search?q=FrancesMF

Submitted by celticman on

yes, they are us.