Kiev

“Dome, Kiev” by Anna Sokol

 

(Originally written February, 2014 upon Russia’s invasion of Ukrainian Crimea)

 

writhe at the unseen lingering touch
by Chernobyl fingers of Soviet hands
draw deep cleansing breaths
exhale liberty
over these broad ancient steppes
where the ancestral horse
was first tamed to the bit
and the burden of riders
where breadbasket wheat
sways in capital waves
over savory oilfields catering
menus of sham independence
it’s time for that spirited bloodline
those fiercely proud Carpatho-Rusyns
to rise from repression and
once and for all
plunge the dagger of freedom
right up to its self-declared hilt
in the slavering red hearted bear