The Road to the Donbass

The Road to the Donbass

Original by Yevdokia “Dunya” Sheremetyeva published on littlehirosima blog; translated from Russian by J.Hawk

–Go with God!
Mom is waving in the window, still with expectation.
The last package of baby food has been stuffed into the car.
The door slams shut.
The seams of my jeans are unexpectedly ripping.
The next day or so will be spent on the road.
To the Donbass.
It should be quiet.

The Road to the Donbass

The South is different.
Steppe, poplar trees.
And suddenly colder than Moscow.
An endless like at the border.
Propping up my eyelids with matchsticks.
Days without sleep.
Wind is blowing through my jeans.
It’s already fall.
Falling. Yellow. Naked.

The Road to the Donbass

And these bus stops.
Freshly painted and bright.
Almost like celebratory post-cards.

The Road to the Donbass
Against the background of bombed out villages and houses.
Which they haven’t managed to rebuild yet.
The bus stops are a marker, an attribute.

The Road to the Donbass
An occasional BMP.
Leaves flying into the window.

The Road to the Donbass

And that unexpected chill.
With white hoar-frost on the grass at night.

The Road to the Donbass
The Donbass still stands.
But the world had forgotten about it.

The Road to the Donbass
The local news reported last night that shelling had begun again.
Gorlovka, Donetsk, Schastye.
But the Russian news is quiet.
We have arrived.

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Michelle Kerensky

How sad that Russia is now joining the west in ignoring the plight of the Donbass people! They used to stick up for them, now they have become too much of a hot potato and Putin has decided to please ‘western partners’ instead. What a tragedy.