Yahidne

It is no wonder

that we are reaching for life 

when we are watching 

death’s parade

across the oceans of information

that travel the long curves of the internet 

if the flame of the candle

lights in you then seize it 

because we may be the next 

to have our world darkened 

to have our world destroyed

to be snuffed out 

the Echthroi, the star-eaters

are all about us 

around the basement of the school 

in Yahidne, near Chernihiv

where we write the names 

of the dead beside the door 

so they won’t be forgotten 

where we write their names

so that creation 

cannot be extinguished 

and so that the days of agony

are numbered and not 

forgotten by a world 

so overgrown with darkness 

that we are made blind

with sorrow.

Image by @evgenymaloletka for @apnews