NOT THE
MORNING I
IMAGINED
24.02.2022
Not the morning I imagined,
When I laid down to sleep in the dead of night.
Not the morning I imagined,
When they came to stare, with eyes devoid of light.
Those 'comrades' laced with their cloying lies,
Who froze the world with menacing fangs.
They gifted thunder to our skies,
And fear to children with silent pangs.
Are you our friends, if all you bring is sorrow?
You lie — and worse, your silence is a blade.
Are you our brothers, striking in the shadow?
I don't want words. Just shoot. Let the bombs cascade.
There's nothing sacred in shameless destruction.
No innocence to shield you in this war.
You won't create joy from corpses or corruption.
No gift of blood can mend a shattered heart's core.
Whether I stop, or move, the passerby can't save me.
Your 'sorry' (извини) sounds as false as all your pleas.
Look closely — it's you, your child, your history
Who plant again the seeds of an old disease.
Do you know your past, if books you've never read?
If you had learned, you wouldn't strike so blindly.
Are you sincere, while hiding the truth instead?
You cry at traitors — and yet betray us too, unkindly.
You broke our bond like whores that scorn affection,
You'd smile and cheer if given half a chance.
You drank away the last of our connection —
While we press on. May your defeat wake you from this trance.
The capital stands silent, grey and hollow.
Outside — a hush. Just trembling walls remain.
Dark birds driven mad by the lies they blindly follow,
While people watch their screens…
And I still chase the rhyme in pain.
Not the morning I imagined,
When what has happened — can't be undone.
Not the morning I imagined,
Once you lose your morality — it can never be re-won.
P.S.
And I'm sorry it's not in your "Russian tongue."
My soul rings and moans alone.
For the senselessness of what you've "secretly" done,
You will in history, atone.
Images used: Ozzy Delaney on Flickr, CC BY 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en, adohnes on Flickr, CC BY 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en