“The pity of war. The pity war distilled”
- Wilfred Owen

When the rising sun breaks
     The curves and slants
Of the Rockies’ eastern horizon,
     Gold and crimson rays cloak the
Western fields and mountains
     With a rich florescent mantle.

Birds greet the emergent light
    With their sweet and cheerful calls
Of greetings to the nascent day.
    A small gathering of does and fawns
Pause to graze for a spell
     beneath the luminescent sky.

Harmony, balance and peace
    Seem to rule the entire earth
But we know sadly better my friends.
    Distant cousins who would
Otherwise pass a pleasant meal
   Gun each other down
Like effigies in a sick carnival game.

How can we dare to hope?
    How can we ever dare to heal?
How can we muster the courage
    To burn our homicidal pride
On the altar of love and justice?”

Listen to the sounds of healing breezes
    Or hear a newborn infant’s cry.
We are all the same, my friends
    Beneath the gold and crimson sky
And Godparents and Godchildren
    Of all another on this azure globe
Drifting through infinity.

With head stuffed with broken glass,
    The small ball-headed man
with cold beady eyes
     says it’s all lies and fakery.

Then let him plead his case
     In court at the Hague.
Let him explain to the judges
    How **** is help
And ****** is deliverance.

He wants to remove Nazis, he says
    But misses the easiest way –
All he needs is a mirror
    To reveal the true face of evil.

Were he to bring to that mirror
     His own personal final solution,
It would be his best shot
    At  helping the most people,
With the least effort,
     In the shortest amount of time.

Tempers flare in russian Markets.
     Neighbors turn on neighbors -
Fighting for the final bag of sugar -
     Snatching a carton of eggs.
from a nearby shoppers cart.

This is but the surface of your pain.
     Your hard-earned coins and notes
Are worth little more than dust.
     Your cherished sons and brothers
Come home in zippered bags.

These and your every other panic
     Has a single homicidal face.
He has ravaged your beloved land.
    This blood soaked KGB assassin
Has stolen your country and your soul.

When the bombs and missiles stop
     When screams of Ukraini widows end,
Your youth and tomorrow’s hope
      will sink no longer to early graves
And the russian soul will rise from its ashes.

She sang softly as she swept
     Broken glass and dust
From her bomb-littered sill.

It was the song of her people
     Rising and enduring -
Singing of brotherhood and liberty.

Throngs huddled underground
     Sheltering from explosions above
Broke into the great Ukraini song of love.

The world knows this is your land,
     Your Motherland your Fatherland -
Your daughter land, your nephew land.

Sing on Ukraini, together forever!
     Sing songs of your parents, your children
Your doctors, teachers, bus drivers .
     Tailors, mechanics, dancers!
Sing on policemen, clerks, shopkeepers
     Factory workers, farmers and actors!

Sing the music of your
     Rivers, forests and rolling hills.
Your ancestors, and your grandchildren
     Sing full voice by your side.
The world sings with you –
    cheering you on to victory.
Soon the sounds of ringing bells
     Will echo from every street and valley
And freedom and glory will once again reign.

Slava Ukraini!
     Slava Ukraini!
          Slava Ukraini!

Robert Charles Howard

Those he met say his eyes
     Would freeze his victims’ tears
And the windows of his diseased soul
     Mirror only rabid ****** and chaos.

The currency of his homicidal
     Delusions of dominion?
War crimes that russian pens
     Helped etch into global law.

His dreams of a cleansed russia
      Need no lengthy search.
To find the filthiest part to scrub
      All he needs is a mirror.

Slaughter, lies and treachery
     Fill his curriculum vita
And his country’s patience
     Has outreached its vanishing point
Say a contemptuous goodbye
     To the butcher of Moscow.

Every day the prime of russian youth -  
     The doctors, engineers, teachers    
     chefs and artists of tomorrow,
Climb into armored steel coffins  
     enroute to a fiery reward
for their loyalty to their flag.

The Kremlin maniac sent them there –    
      Rolling to doom in tidy rows like
Aluminum birds in a carnival arcade.
      Fodder for Putin’s imperial cannon.

The men poised prostrate on the hills    
      Have no luxury of choice.
They know what tanks are for      
      And what their missiles must do.

And so the prime of russian youth
      Is blown to waste due to a heartless fool
Who spares even less care for his soldiers’ lives  
      Than the children he sent them to ******.

The bravest Moscow souls take the streets
     to show their belief in life over death -
In truth over lies and repression -
    Courage over spineless complicity.

The weak and cowardly
    Put on uniforms and shields
And herd their neighbors
    Into buses and cells -
Neighbors who have decided
    It is better to serve the beating
Heart of mother russia
    In a cold and heartless cell
Than live at ease in a prison of silence.

All you uniformed traitors of justice,
     Listen to the screams in the night
     That crawl in to haunt your dreams.
They are your Ukrainian brethren
     Crying out to your lost better selves.

Muster the courage to shed and defy
     Your blood-soiled uniforms and shields
     Smash your guns and clubs to pieces
Your souls are your own to redeem.

Robert C. Howard