Holodomor
Holodomor
I am surrounded by death’s
unmerciful stench,
its sounds,
its unrelenting determination.
I cling to the nothingness
of hope,
feel the emptiness of
bloated belly,
the gnawing bite of hunger
cannibalizing itself.
My children died first,
too small,
made too weak to linger -
in death’s grip -
for long.
My wife
held the lifeless bodies
and slowly followed.
Looking into her
hollow, empty eyes
I knew that death
had come
long before her
love succumbed
to the hate.
A hate
that refused
food
to the hungry,
sustenance
to the children.
I pray
to forgotten gods
for an end,
my end.
Awaken
one more time,
see the gray haze
of one more day,
watch
gaunt shadows
of men,
of women,
fade
into blackened memories.
I, we,
have surrendered
yet this war
this hate,
this fear,
this terror
continues.
I will rest now,
allow the darkness
to envelope
what little is left
of me,
of my life,
of my family,
of us.
John G. Lawless
8/21/2014
for the Genocide: Speak for the Lost contest
Holodomor, the Ukrainian genocide.
Copyright © John Lawless | Year Posted 2014
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