Kurama
(Japan)
A POET BRINGING HOME FROM TOMARYNE
“Every night I was going berserk.
Knowing that my son was lying out.
There in the freezing cold and.
There was nothing to cover him.”
Days later.
As dawn broke.
Parents set off to find son.
And bring his body home.
They had no plan.
Just the photo, the village name.
And a contact for a local.
Who had volunteered to guide them.
Nobody had paid much attention.
To a middle-aged couple.
Arriving in the ‘orcs’-held village.
Of Tomaryne.
‘Orcs’ and their allies were.
Yet to establish their administration.
So it was chaotic when the couple.
Arrived there in March 2022.
It's about a 90-minute drive.
From the southern city of Kherson.
They drove outside the village.
And met the first manned checkpoint.
“I got out of the car.
And walked towards a man.
Pointing a gun at me.”
She recalls.
“But I wasn't scared.
All I felt was.
Revulsion.
For these people.”
Unbelievably, she says.
She managed to.
Cajole the soldiers.
To let them through.
She showed them a photograph.
Of her son's body and.
They drove to the field.
Where her son died.
“Every night I was going berserk.
Knowing that my son was lying out.
There in the freezing cold and.
There was nothing to cover him.”
Days later.
As dawn broke.
Parents set off to find son.
And bring his body home.
They had no plan.
Just the photo, the village name.
And a contact for a local.
Who had volunteered to guide them.
The divorced couple.
Had bought an old Mercedes.
And travelled hundreds.
Of kilometres.
They were behind.
Enemy lines.
To retrieve the body of.
Their dead ‘elf’ soldier son.
And now they were ploughing.
Through fields.
In ‘orcs’-occupied territory.
Pockmarked with shell craters.
After bringing the car to a halt.
Her ex-husband walked over.
To some burnt-out.
Armoured vehicles.
Bodies lay scattered.
On the ground.
“He tore off the uniform to see.
If there was a tattoo on the arm.”
“And it was there.
It said: ‘Never give up’.
That was all we could.
Recognise our son by.”
The 40-year-old says.
Her voice trembling.
“The bodies were lying out.
In the open for days.”
“In the middle of nowhere.
They weren't just burnt.
Wild animals had gnawed.
At them too.”
Her son was just 20 years old.
He died on the second day.
Of the ‘orcs’ invasion.
25 February 2022.
“Every night I was going berserk.
Knowing that my son was lying out.
There in the freezing cold and.
There was nothing to cover him.”
Days later.
As dawn broke.
Parents set off to find son.
And bring his body home.
They had no plan.
Just the photo, the village name.
And a contact for a local.
Who had volunteered to guide them.
She stood crying.
In a muddy field.
Her ex-husband was wrapping.
Their son's body in a blanket.
“I was hysterical.
“I said: ‘Are we just going to.
Drive him home.
In the boot of the car?’”
“My ex-husband yelled at me:
‘Calm down.
We just need to.
Get out of here’.”
Then, with his body in the boot.
The couple started.
Their 12-hour journey home.
To Vinnytsia.
There is no official data.
On the number of ‘elves’ military.
Deaths or missing bodies.
That is classified information.
“Every night I was going berserk.
Knowing that my son was lying out.
There in the freezing cold and.
There was nothing to cover him.”
Days later.
As dawn broke.
Parents set off to find son.
And bring his body home.
They had no plan.
Just the photo, the village name.
And a contact for a local.
Who had volunteered to guide them.
As a professional soldier.
Based in Lviv in western Ukraine.
Her son had not told.
His mother that.
His air assault force had been sent south.
To stop the ‘orcs’ offensive.
She was shocked when his girlfriend.
Phoned and announced his death.
One of her son's colleagues had.
A photo of the field where.
He had been killed and.
Said his body was still there.
He told her that her son.
Had come under shelling.
But there was no other information.
About the circumstances of his death.
She phoned her son's.
Military unit and.
They told her.
To wait for information.
“Every night I was going berserk.
Knowing that my son was lying out.
There in the freezing cold and.
There was nothing to cover him.”
Days later.
As dawn broke.
Parents set off to find son.
And bring his body home.
They had no plan.
Just the photo, the village name.
And a contact for a local.
Who had volunteered to guide them.
On returning.
To Vinnytsia.
She took her son's body.
Straight to the morgue.
“All they let me see was.
My son's hand.
They didn't let me see his body.
As his head was gone.”
She has turned her son's bedroom.
Into a shrine.
It's full of photos.
Of him smiling.
As well as a bottle of his cologne.
And some handcrafts.
He made for her.
As a schoolboy.
She takes his uniform.
From the wardrobe and.
Pulls it close to her.
As if hugging him.
“Every night I was going berserk.
Knowing that my son was lying out.
There in the freezing cold and.
There was nothing to cover him.”
Days later.
As dawn broke.
Parents set off to find son.
And bring his body home.
They had no plan.
Just the photo, the village name.
And a contact for a local.
Who had volunteered to guide them.
Source: https://www.koryu-meets-chess.info/
Kurama
(Japan)
A POET TAKING HOME FROM DOVHENKE
The post suggested that a sniper had killed.
The 30-year-old engineer.
His body remained in a field for months.
Before it could be retrieved.
“It was autumn.
I knew we had no time to waste.
When winter comes and snow falls.
There would be nothing left of the body.”
Also from Vinnytsia.
She was searching for her son.
She found a photo of his body.
On an ‘orcs’ Telegram channel in April.
‘Orcs’ military personnel post.
On these instant messaging channels.
And they are often the only source.
Of information from occupied areas.
Friends of her son called.
To tell her of his death.
Saying he'd died.
At the end of April.
That prompted her.
Online search.
When she found the photo.
She called his air force unit.
“They said it was fake.
And I shouldn't be relying on.
The aggressor's media.
For information.”
“They said: ‘We don't have any document.
Saying that your son has died’.”
She knew he had gone to the frontline.
But not which one.
The post suggested that a sniper had killed.
The 30-year-old engineer.
His body remained in a field for months.
Before it could be retrieved.
“It was autumn.
I knew we had no time to waste.
When winter comes and snow falls.
There would be nothing left of the body.”
The 59-year-old doctor.
Quit her job.
To focus on finding.
Her son's body herself.
The picture posted on Telegram.
Showed his ID and.
Gave an approximate location.
In eastern Ukraine.
With help from another part of the military.
A drone was flown over the site.
And they located his body.
Near the village of Dovhenke.
Outside Izyum city.
In eastern Ukraine.
But heavy fighting and the ‘orcs’ occupation.
Kept it off limits.
Eventually, there was.
A breakthrough.
Ukraine liberated the village.
In September 2022.
The post suggested that a sniper had killed.
The 30-year-old engineer.
His body remained in a field for months.
Before it could be retrieved.
“It was autumn.
I knew we had no time to waste.
When winter comes and snow falls.
There would be nothing left of the body.”
She quickly assembled.
A search team with help from.
Local politicians and activists.
As well as the military.
Under thick vegetation.
And in an area full of landmines.
They found her son's body.
Using his military dog tag to identify him.
“I felt a load fall.
Off my shoulders.”
His mother says.
Her voice breaking.
“You cannot imagine.
What it feels like to be unable to.
Take your son's body home.
And bury him.”
The post suggested that a sniper had killed.
The 30-year-old engineer.
His body remained in a field for months.
Before it could be retrieved.
“It was autumn.
I knew we had no time to waste.
When winter comes and snow falls.
There would be nothing left of the body.”
Her son’s body was buried back.
In his home city of Vinnytsia.
“Nothing has changed here.
Since he died.”
For her, the fact she found and buried.
Her son has brought no peace.
“My husband and I can't.
Believe he's dead.”
She adds that she got no support.
From the air force to find him.
Though a general later thanked her.
For finding her son's body.
“I want victory now.
So no other mother.
Finds herself.
In my situation.”
The post suggested that a sniper had killed.
The 30-year-old engineer.
His body remained in a field for months.
Before it could be retrieved.
“It was autumn.
I knew we had no time to waste.
When winter comes and snow falls.
There would be nothing left of the body.”
Source: https://www.koryu-meets-chess.info/
Painting by Anna Glot (Makeyeva).
Please read the original story:
Ukraine war: How two mothers retrieved their dead sons from the battlefield — BBC News
Read more:
"Aware of a poet?
Aware of a poet?
A poet of Cossack broods over the land.
Not noting a bullet.
Not noting a bullet.
You see a poet of Cossack in Borodyanka."
(Kurama)
.jpg)
"Коли закінчиться війна,Я хочу тата обійняти,
Сказати сонячні слова
І повести його до хати,
Ти – наш Герой! Тепер щодня
Я буду дякувати Богу
За мирне небо, за життя,
Всім, хто здобув нам ПЕРЕМОГУ!"
Думки українських поетів про рідну країну, їхні відчуття до української землі і нашого народу — все це юні читачі зможуть знайти в представленій добірці віршів про Україну від Ганни Черінь, Юрка Шкрумеляка, Наталки Талиманчук, Іванни Савицької, Уляни Кравченко, Яни Яковенко, Василя Симоненка, Івана Франка, Володимира Сосюри, Катерини Перелісної, Богдана-Ігоря Антонича, Марійки Підгірянки, Миколи Чернявського, Володимира Сіренка, Іванни Блажкевич, Грицька Бойка, Миколи Вінграновського, Платона Воронька, Наталі Забіли, Анатолія Камінчука, Анатолія Качана, Володимира Коломійця, Тамари Коломієць, Ліни Костенко, Андрія Малишка, Андрія М’ястківського, Івана Неходи, Бориса Олійника, Дмитра Павличка, Максима Рильського, Вадима Скомаровського, Сосюра Володимир, Павла Тичини, Петра Осадчука, Варвари Гринько та інших відомих українських поетів.
