Where Lies Death? Poem by Desmond Otikpa

It wasn't the moon that lit up the night sky.
The stars aswell found rest outside the universe.
It wasn't the usual refulgence of the setting sun,
Nor beams from torches of men.

The streets are desolate
Wanting the cheers and chatter of school children stretching their arms and calling on Fedir for a slice of pampushka under that Oak tree.
The tree is dead, riddle by shells.
Fedir is dead, riddled by shells.

Death did not come when they died.
When the night sky was lit by unfriendly missiles of war.
When the bullets from the soldiers' barrels pierced their skulls.

'Do zustrichi' -
Death came when Danylo
In broken tears and cold embrace bids his wife and daughter goodbye.
As dusk draws closer, the men gather and sing odes in turn.
In the uncertainty of whose helmet the next shell will land - there, lies death.