This futile, senseless war 🇺🇦

It’s the silence that accentuates this carnage. Men, arms and legs tied, bloated in death, assassinated in cold blood

It’s the sight of smouldering ruins. Burnt out shells of tanks, cars, armoured vehicles blocking the roads

I make my way into a residential area and pause. Looking around all I see is a confusion of rubble, smoke and dust

It’s the acrid smell of exploded gunpowder that permeates the air. It mingles with the ammonia stench of rotting flesh and nauseating diesel fumes

I cover my mouth and nose. The air, chokingly thick, burns my eyes and I begin to heave

Not all houses are completely destroyed. Some fronts are ripped away, rooms obscenely exposed, furniture strewn like matchsticks

It’s the feeling of utter despair. The futility of this senseless, mindless destruction of innocents

One man has created all this devastation. It took one person to have a vision and destroy a nation

I bend down and touch the dried earth. I pick up a bird’s nest, the embryo charred, grotesque in death

I miss the sound of birdsong. The roar of traffic heading home, the sounds of life

I miss the smell of a garden, my garden. Filled with lavender, roses, sweet honeysuckle, fresh air

How dare one man yield such power. Unstoppable evil, the devil incarnate, justifying this massacre

A small breeze disturbs the air. A broken wind chime hangs on a bent pole, clanging tunelessly

In the distance I hear tanks approaching. I try to find somewhere to hide, stumbling over a baby’s pram

I run into an empty shell of a house. Away from sight I crouch down and, with pounding heart, I wait

The tanks shatter the silence as they roar past. Heading onto another mission, like vampires, they smell blood

Finally, the silence returns. This strange, haunting silence of a town once vibrant and alive

I’m heading for the mass grave. That long train of newly dug black earth piled high, etched against a cloudless sky

There are no flowers left in gardens. Nothing to place a tiny piece of beauty onto this mound of senseless carnage

Apparently these invaders came as Nazi liberators! But this is genocide, mass destruction on a monumental scale

The West waits with baited breath. ‘No fly zones’, vetoed, no Polish planes allowed, just sanctions!

The rest of the world will suffer. As the breadbasket of Europe burns, so too will oil and gas pipelines run dry

I stand in front of this damp, dark earth. Hastily dug to bury hundreds of innocent women and children

Involuntarily I drop to my knees. Grabbing a handful of soil I watch as the grains trickle slowly through my fingers

Sobs begin to wrack my body. I’m so sorry, my tortured cries escape cracked, bleeding lips, you should have been safe here

I try not to imagine what lies beneath. I need to remember my wife and child as I left them, alive and well

That last day remains etched in my memory. I led the convoy of busses carrying our loved ones to this safe haven

We left them in the care of our kinsmen. Then husbands, sons and brothers went back to fight for freedom

A stray cloud covers the sun. Standing up I take one last look around the smouldering ruins of a once beloved city

With renewed impetus I’m back on the road. Darkness sets in and a full moon hangs motionless, leading the way

I’ll rejoin my regiment and soldier on I’ll fight for as long as it takes to regain our land and expel these inhuman oppressors

He will not win, he’ll never win! We’ll remain united, proud, steadfast and strong!

Ukraine will never surrender! 🇺🇦

Jennifer Burrell 2022 👠