The Ukraine rain fell long and hard
From clouds above on high,
But what were shed
Were tears of red
To spill on fields awry.
As storms of rage passed o'er the land
A horseman through it rode.
A black horse day
Of wild dismay
As floods of red rain flowed.
Beneath the yellow and the blue
The Ukraine rain poured on,
It steeped the ground
For miles around
And harvest yield was gone.
As people cried and people died,
The pain of rain aflame;
With nought to eat
The yellow wheat
Was plundered beyond shame
And all about the crippled souls
Would weep through blood red eyes
As once again
The Ukraine rain
Screamed down from blood red skies.
-
Author:
ASJ (Pseudonym) (
Offline) - Published: March 30th, 2022 08:41
- Comment from author about the poem: I writ this last year, so well before the current shenanigans. It was inspired by the book 'Red Famine' by Anne Applebaum. Her 2017 work was awarded the Lionel Gelber Prize and also the Duff Cooper Prize. The book itself is well worth reading if only to preserve the memory of the 4.5 million (Applebaum's estimate) souls who starved to death during the 'Holodomor' in the hands of Stalin. Therefore I writ this poem for them. As Duff Cooper himself famously said "Old men forget"
- Category: Sociopolitical
- Views: 18
Offline)
Comments2
The Black Horse of the Apocalypse? People having to drink sewer water too, amongst all the atrocities.
If there were aliens, seeing some places on Earth, would they return and go home again?!
Yes Steve, The black horse representing famine (1932-33). Everyone is familiar with the Holocaust (as they should be of course) but far fewer know of the Holodomor. People died in the streets from starvation.
Aliens possibly have visited us Steve, and left for home within the first 5 minutes.
Ex animo, Alan
On a lighter note -yes, I'm sure I saw E.T for 5 mins in.... ohh, 1975 was it?! lol. (random year chosen there).
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As a strong advocate of a historical perspective here (to the boredom, no doubt of some) I want to thank you Allan, for bringing to my attention a historical event about which I was only dimly aware. A beautifully structured piece of poetry is a bonus.
Two points:
History as I’ve argued elsewhere is an extremely contestable space, none more so than with this event, it would appear. But by pointing to this I’m not attempting to diminish the undoubted suffering which must have existed at that time.
I’m not suggesting that you have, but I think it would be a long bow to draw if one were to attempt to link this historical event to any debate re the causes of the current conflict in the Ukraine.
Hello Dave, good to hear from you. Of course you are correct, history reads in the eyes of the beholder (there are those who still believe that the Holocaust never happened, or that the earth is flat or man never landed on the moon at all!). My poem was writ before the Russian invasion of the Ukraine so has no reference to today's happenings. However, it does, I think, highlight the ongoing plight of the Ukrainian people. When the piece was first published (2021) I received many comments stating that the work had drawn attention to the Holodomor, which is referred to little (here in the UK at least) so, to that end I am satisfied with it. Anne Applebaum's book is well worth a read though Dave, it contains photographs also.
Kind regards, Alan
Thanks for that, Alan – I appreciate the upfront response.
As for the ‘ongoing plight of the Ukrainian people’, I agree – they are In a crap position. They, like Vietnam, Afghanistan, Syria and many others have become a proxy war between the US and in this case Russia, with the poor Ukrainians in the middle. Please don’t think I approve of Russia’s current actions – I don’t. But dig just a micro level below the current situation, which perhaps, (given the war dynamic which exists and disgusts me), it becomes apparent that Putin had reservations (!!!) with respect to NATO establishing a presence on his border.
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