the metro (is also home)

seventeen miles
of convoy
stretches out
on the road
to kyiv

air raid sirens
fill the streets

foreboding

they come
relentlessly

and they come
despite

they are
so many
and they come . . .

~

in the underground shelter
of a railway station
a sole trumpeter
blows

people
sheltered there –
for protection
when the missiles land –
stand up tall

let the fear
fall away
for a moment
while the anthem
sounds

filling up
the space

with the belief
that even this
is home

~

From the News.