BY VIKTORIIA 12 years old - Kryvyi Rih - 2025
***
With pencil, in silence, I write these lines
For you, as war rages on and grinds
For thousands of days, as darkness deep
Has swallowed our world in shadows steep.
With whispers of hope, ‘midst the thunder of guns,
I search through my words for solace that comes
Through ruins and flames, in cold dawns breaking,
Dreamy lines in my notebooks I’m carefully making…
With pencil, in secret, I’m sketching the spring
Where flowers will bloom when peace takes wing,
Where you’ll return like a bird to blue skies,
And never again shall pain make us cry!
May these lines, like the morning’s first light,
Pierce through the darkness to your distant shore
My voice in the silence, for you, ever bright,
For faith in love is stronger than anger’s roar.
Mar 31
Mar 31, 2026 at 8:51 AM UTC
BY VIKTORIIA 12 years old - Kryvyi Rih - 2025
***
With pencil, in silence, I write these lines
For you, as war rages on and grinds
For thousands of days, as darkness deep
Has swallowed our world in shadows steep.
With whispers of hope, ‘midst the thunder of guns,
I search through my words for solace that comes
Through ruins and flames, in cold dawns breaking,
Dreamy lines in my notebooks I’m carefully making…
With pencil, in secret, I’m sketching the spring
Where flowers will bloom when peace takes wing,
Where you’ll return like a bird to blue skies,
And never again shall pain make us cry!
May these lines, like the morning’s first light,
Pierce through the darkness to your distant shore
My voice in the silence, for you, ever bright,
For faith in love is stronger than anger’s roar.
Poems for Peace is a collection of poetry by Ukrainian children living through war. Gathered through a global UNICEF initiative launched in 2020, it gives voice to young people in conflict zones. Their poems reflect fear, loss, and separation, as war reaches their schools, homes, and playgrounds. Childhood is shaped by sirens, not school bells, yet their words carry hope and a shared dream of peace returning.
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