Leaves Of Ukraine

Poem by David Dephy

So, you are God. That’s how you look.
I always knew you must be very familiar,
but never have a chance to be quiet
in this deadly noise of a millennium.
 
You are reading my thoughts, but they are empty.
No words, no images, no meanings, no sounds,
no memories, but silence. Are you enjoying silence?
I can think without words. Only silence is real, not noise.
Was that nightmare real? Or was the point always to continue
with pain? You know a lot about us, but if you want to know
how I spend my time listen to my heartbeat, it was your home,
but now it’s empty. Was I brave? Will I be born again?
Maybe I was not real at all? Was I your own dream?
You just woke up and I vanished, right?
Do you want to walk in the streets, under the bombs?
Or the front lawn? Pretending to be watering roses?
I always pray alone, but never prey standing on my knees,
pulling clumps of clover from the roses,
in fact, I am looking for signs, sometimes,
for some evidence our life will change,
though it changed already, checking my breath
for the precious leaf, and soon the war is ending,
already, the news is turning, and our mothers’ voices
are turning as the tides and other children are not shot,
they are still alive, right? And the leaves are turning,
dying, and turning into your divine yellow,
while a few notes perform their helpless sound of music
far beyond, on the other side of our dreams.
 
Remember, I loved you, I always had a choice,
but now I have not, because you woke up
and I vanished. Remember, before I will change
as silence through the living words—
 
we are breathing together, we are dying together,
and there is no way out. Thank you for that time
when we were immortals—
thank you for my childhood.

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David Dephy -- A Georgian/American award-winning poet. Named as A Literature Luminary by Bowery Poetry, The Stellar Poet by Voices of Poetry. Read more about David at artisticfreedominitiative.org.