Beautiful Bakhmut

 

Beautiful Bakhmut

Oh, beautiful Bakhmut! Now you have endured, the test of Putin’s war,

Bombarded with rockets, and munitions, his awful crimes abhorred!

Yet another beautiful city, now transformed, into wreckage and dust,

Without reason, into wanton waste, the people’s lovely homes crushed.

For the inhabitants, there will be no return, no “Finally heading home!”

For they have been unwillingly set free, upon the road, to sadly roam.

Joining in the massive sea of wearily faces, that have already drifted by,

As they journey on, in pursuit of the setting sun, left to wonder why?

Unsure about where they have come, within the troubles they have been,

The fearsome sights, and haunting thoughts, now set in the flux between.

Displaced souls, now flooding west, unsure where they are bound to go.

Set on the perilous road, into the darkness, their fate we shall not know.

Widows and orphans, walking together, their sight fixed in empty eyes,

Hunger pains, and thirst, a forbidding reminder, hope difficult to visualize

No sound of chatter, their spirits paralyzed, fear set firmly in their minds,

Trudging methodically, one foot in front of the other, all dreams benign.

Mariupol, Sievierodonetsk, Maryinka, Rubizhne, and Popasna destroyed,

Volnovakha, Lyman, Izium, and now Bakhmut has joined the empty void.

In the towns and cities, where each solemn shadow was cast, we grieve,

With the pit of eternal sadness welling within, as our tears take their leave.

Slava Ukraini! Heroyam Slava! We take a knee, for all that you have lost!

Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the heroes! For you have borne freedoms cost.

Written By: Alan.Clark@WW1POET (May 2023)