An Apple Tree In Ukraine
Just another apple tree in Ukraine,
My roots sink deep in frozen soil.
And then with spring, I bourgeon flower fractals.
I fatten my ripened apples that plummet to the Earth.
Just another apple tree in Ukraine,
I live for life.
It is all that I know,
For the bounty and beauty, I can offer.
With the joy and love,
The giving of fruit,
And my flowers meant for nectar,
It is all I know.
Just another apple tree in Ukraine,
Stationary and resolute,
I spread my branches in a bouquet of giving.
I live for the passion of playing children,
For the smiles of old men peddling bikes,
For the lovers kissing under a late-night streetlamp.
Then one witching hour the tanks came.
They ulcerated nocturne with explosive glare,
Ripping open tumbling walls,
Ripping open stomach entrails.
By morning there were more tanks than trees.
By morning there were more dead than graves.
But I’m just another apple tree in Ukraine.
My roots sink deep in blood-soaked soil.
What do I know of these things?
I don’t know why this ferocity,
I don’t know why this inhumanity.
The shells pounded everywhere as days
Turned into weeks and months.
Families slaughtered as they fled,
The babies shrieked in blind dread.
Who would design this living hell?
Why all the executions in the head?
Like timber falling, the dead are calling.
Let me take the bullets instead.
Please, life is for joy and wonder!
But nobody notices me now, nobody sees.
Have you ever seen apple tree tears?
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