Let the Journey, Belated, Begin
For Olena, Marina, Alison.
If the Czar of Russia has his way,
Tomorrow, the Defiant-Besieged
Will doubtless include You and Me.
Now is the time to offer helping hands
To our courageous Ukrainian friends
Because NOT to engage with their plight
Would reduce us to passive pawns,
In a deluded dictator’s war games,
Trapped in the expanding insanity
Of his imperialist fantasies.
–
Shell-shocked, confused, we demand to know
Why this political pandemic
Has been left unattended, allowed to grow,
Voracious greed consuming our élite,
Self-enriching at breakneck speed,
The Common People corralled in ignorance,
Disinformation-deceived, struggling
To survive on a rich-poor-ravaged land;
And as we refuse a part complicit
In war games on bloodied Ukrainian soil,
We must look again, with enlightened eyes,
At the history of last century’s
World War traumas, conflagrations,
Determined to forestall the impending
Apocalypse of nuclear holocaust.
–
We must rescue our Wounded Humanity
From the cesspit of corrupt rivalries;
And with our Ukrainian Sisters and Brothers
Strive to give Peace a chance, while Time still allows,
Providing relief to those in dire need,
The first step, along the journey ahead,
In the Knowledge incontrovertible,
That Disaster Capitalism
Will lead to Extinction, Disintegration.
–
Let us recover our Common Humanity
From the stranglehold of barbaric agendas,
This the only gift worth giving
To the dispossessed, traumatised children
Of a raped planet, imprisoned in crises.
Let the journey, belated, begin,
So that sunshine smiles replace the frowns
On frozen-young faces, locked in fear.
Let this be the priority, challenging
Us to implement restorative justice,
As we turn our backs on toxic nationalisms,
And competing imperialist disruptions,
Acknowledging the interconnections
That bind us together as global citizens.
—
© Hilary Rouse-Amadi