Author’s Note: I wrote this after reading some accounts from Ukrainians who are getting ground down – they want their independence but they also fear their country is being destroyed, literally and politically, and there seems to be no way to, in practical terms, split the difference. The public face is very patriotic but there are strings of commentary that are very dark…

– Arrias

Pawns

The rains have ended, summer’s come,
The bunker’s hot and dry,
The shelling continues, we fight on,
No one any longer asks why.

The war grinds on, still no end in sight,
“Recruiting teams,” prowl each street,
With a friendly greeting – And a black hood
For every man they meet.

Everything is starting to blend,
Both governments are acting the same,
Power flows to the center,
The soldiers are used, as in a game.

Pawns on some great chessboard,
While someone’s skimming the cream,
The poor bastards in the trenches
Living a very bad dream.

While oligarchs in the cities
Making money by the bucketful,
We’re dying in the trenches,
And the politicians feed us bull.

Our friends are dying left and right,
As the papers print nonsense stats,
And we’re still living in the bunkers,
Sharing our cots with rats.

And the little drones chase us,
Morning, noon and night,
And we die while taking a piss,
You tell me if that is right?

I want my country to be free,
I also want it to exist,
I’m not sure how that happens
If we don’t soon desist…

How do we save the country?
There’s one answer we all dread,
Fight on ‘till final victory
May well mean we’re all dead.

Copyright 2024 Arrias
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