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No man is an island [John Donne]
No man is an island, entire of itself;
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main; if a clod be
Washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less,
As well as if a promontory were,
As well as if a manor of thy friends
Or of thy own were;
Any man’s death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind;
And therefore never send to know
For whom the bell tolls;
it tolls for thee.
War [Vishnu Singh Rai]
This is the tenth day of the war,
No sign of its end so far.
The bunkers are full with people,
Like ants in a hole.
The sky is full with missiles,
Cracking like fireworks.
The pattering of machine-guns sounds
Like thunderous clapping
In the UN General Assembly,
And the siren sounds
Like the wailing of a mother.
TV screens are alive with
Empty abandoned houses,
Like bodies without souls.
The gaping holes on the road
Like mouths open in bewilderment,
Half-burnt upturned cars
Like half-hearted supporters of anti-war –
And against the blackened crumbling wall
A teddy bear on its back
Staring vacantly into space
As if trying to make sense
Of this senselessness.
Ukraine is far away from my country.
I have no family there,
Nor my son is studying medicine there.
I have never been to Ukraine.
However,
When I watch TV
My eyes fill with tears
And my heart aches
With helplessness and despair.
O onlookers of
This deaf world,
O bystanders of
This dumb world,
Just think for a second –
and no more –
What if a war
Knocked at your door?
