Ave Maria Poem by Elena Tsonkova

The girl wouldn't say a word
for months.
Not a single utterance.

She was there.
She saw it all.

Five days.
What is five days?

Five men.
Guerrilla fighters.
Squad-revenge.

She was taken there
to see everything, just thirteen.

She begged them to leave her.
So did she.
She begged them to take her instead.
So did she.
She cried for her, prayed for her,
pleaded for her, weeped for her.
So did she.

So, they left her
and took her instead.

Day six.
She was dumped unconscious in a ditch,
the mum.
The girl-sent home unharmed,
but dumb.

Five guerrilla fighters-
five men.

A mother dared to speak out
and condemn the men
for the fate
she would bring on herself, isn't
that irony, a delusion?

Five days. Five men.
Five men - day after day,
after day, after

day,

after

day.

One
after
another.

Five.

Five years have passed.
Six, perhaps.
Maybe more.

The girl's studying to be a lawyer-
outspoken,
like her mum.
And Maria?
She's a healer now.
Helps heal the wounds of others.

Ave!

To Maria (from Columbia) and the women of war.
21.08.2016