A poem by Flora Haberman – 9th grade.

In the smoke are crowds, huddled in the dark

Mothers with trembling arms, wrapped around weeping children

No one can question what lurks in the black, the stark

A people; a target, blood red that cannot be hidden.

The fallen fragments of blasted brick, seas of dust

Listen to the prayers murmured beneath the belly of Kyiv

Bullet holes swallowing cities, hope rotting to rust

We wait, breath bated, as humanity deceives.

And all the while, it rains acid 

In the mind of a man

Whom when faced with death is placid

Who’s will burns thousands from their land.

The world echoes with the sigh of a nation, bloody and tired,

Waiting for mercy that could come too late

Hear the call of the fallen as all hope goes expired

Listen closely, when nothing is left but napalm hate.

Whisper a wish to the stars that remain

Hold the calloused hand of peace

So that perhaps, in our frenzy, we might retain

The gasp of suffering, held brimming in the lungs of Ukraine- 

waiting to be released.