Crying for Ukraine Paperback – 6 May 2022
These are the poems I have been scribbling while the horrendous war in Ukraine has been unfurling on our screens – the madness of Putin, the horror of the destruction of cities, the terror of people, death, maiming, the feelings, emotions and stupidity of such unfathomable violence. These are my reactions.
One Day
One day life was normal.
The next flung into fear.
One day our houses full
Of things we hold dear.
Now the towns are scenes of death.
Invaders seek to steal our breath.
Our cities pounded into heaps of rubble.
We huddle in basements safe within our bubble.
One day life was normal.
Once we had a home.
Once our lives had meaning
Sweet as any poem.
One day life was normal.
The next flung into fear.
One day our houses full
Of things we hold dear.
It will rise again,
Out of the ashes.
We will build again
And heal the hideous gashes.
Opher – 21.4.2022
I’ve spent the whole of my life in the modern world without being touched by the terror of war.
The wars seemed to happen in other countries far away, to people who were not like me.
War seemed primitive, a relic of the past.
It felt that we had been up trade and relationship to such a level that war was inconceivable.
Then the Ukraine happened.
Belligerence
Great city walls
Turrets and guardrooms,
Lances, bows
And cauldrons of molten lead;
Kingdoms come
And Kingdoms go;
Cities are built
And then destroyed;
Lands change hands –
Nothing is permanent.
Armies pour forth
To pillage and destroy.
Rape and death
Are dispensed
Without mercy.
It is the tale of history,
The tale of humanity
And I am left wondering why?
How life could be so much easier
For us all,
If not for the senseless
Brutality
Of human nature.
To rule, to take, to hurt,
To terrorise and always seek more.
What a great waste!
What a terrible history!
What a horrific species!
How much better we could have done!
Is there no hope?
Opher – 2.10.2019
All around the world I see human beings putting so much of their wealth and energy into protecting themselves against other human beings.
Why are we so belligerent?
Why do we think that war and violence are ever acceptable?
We do some people think it is better to steal the wealth of others rather than work to make their own?
Just imagine what we could have achieved if we hadn’t wasted so much time, effort, innovation and lives on war.
The Spider
It is that time of year again. The large house spiders are on the move. The big males are off hunting females to mate. They bounce across your carpet, veering and halting unpredictable.
They lurk in the recesses and under everything.
They are huge, dark and hairy. Their bristles are evil.
At night they emerge to climb walls and on to beds.
They appear in bath-tubs and showers.
They also loom even larger in my imagination!
I am an entomologist. I should know better. But childhood experiences combine with evolutionary instinct to tell me that these things are dangerous, evil and a malevolent force.
Nothing will persuade me otherwise.
We have a huge one in the house. My wife saw it scurry under the bath.
I know it’s there, somewhere.
The Spider
Malevolently scurrying across the floor,
Scuttling to a standstill, assessing,
Watching with its many eyes,
Weighing up the scene.
Then darting into dark crevices
Impossible to squeeze into
To lurk and plan
Its evil re-emergence.
When darkness falls
It is there
Under the cushion
Under the pillow
Brushing the sleeping face
With its bristles
Legs and gnashing mandibles.
Delighting in its success.
No web
Or patient wait
For this one.
He is quick
And unpredictable,
Equipped with
Many legs
And a brain
That intends
To terrify.
There
When
You
Least
Expect.
Huge
Dark
Hairy
And
Fast.
No ordinary spider.
Opher 3.9.2015
The Guardian has put this superb piece together!