Matti

2,000 Ukrainians

Someone said 2,000 people dead
Wasn’t a lot compared
To all of the people in the world.

But I say that’s 2,000 people too many.
2,000 who were needlessly killed
For the ego of one single person.
An evil person.
A man. 

It’s funny how in the beginning
The world only had one man.
And now the world is burning
Because of one man
Coveting forbidden fruit. 

Except the fruit is an entire country
Of men, women, and children,
Of laughter and oral traditions,
Of marriages and baptisms,
Of cemeteries and prisons.

Now it’s just funerals
From ashes and bombs that fall.
It’s cries and screams
And Earth shattering grief
All because of one man
And the ones who do his bidding.

Think of them:
2,000 people who were still living
Just over a week ago.
Who were breathing
And dreaming
And blinking.
Drinking
In their last moments on Earth
And didn’t even know it. 

2,000 people dealing in borrowed time.
Tell me what is the price
Of a Ukrainian life
To an American president?
To a Russian president?
To a Ukrainian wife in Los Angeles? 

What kind of world do we live in now
Where the currency is nuclear weapons
Used to intimidate and threaten
Other human beings into learning a lesson? 

Is this world fit to raise my children in?
How can I explain this pointless war?
How human blood becomes a flood
That fuels one sadistic man’s lust? 

Olympians are dying,
Children are dying,
Foreign soldiers in this bloody war
Are dying on lonely shores,
And I’m safe here in my room writing.

My pen is my only weapon.
My words are how I can fight.
My poems and my prayers,
Their intricate layers
Aren’t much,
But they’re all I can do
To inspire you to write, too.
To speak up, to post your thoughts.
To donate, to join,
To choose kindness over coins.
I’m still finding my voice
To stand up for others
Who cannot defend themselves
With their hands or their words.

Don’t forget the 2,000 Ukrainians
Still not buried in their graves.
They had birthdays and names,
Dreams and moments of shame.
They were human
Just like Vladimir Putin,
And he should be in prison for that.