What I Know
So much commotion on the street,
Concerned voices,
Expert opinions,
As if a beehive was kicked.
Loud voices,
People do like hearing
Themselves speak.
Declaring the truths
I should believe.
I mind my own
And dig.
The soil
Is soft and gives in,
Welcomes my hands,
Asks for seeds.
All around me
—Outrage—
Telling me
Who I should condemn–
I hold my own
And dig,
Until my fingers feel
Like roots,
Growing,
And the soil nourishes me,
Teaches me to draw strength
From that place
Deep within.
I tend to the seedlings,
Giving them water
Of my quiet tears.
Din of voices grows lowder still.
I dig,
The soil is quiet,
Like me.
They ask for my input.
—What I think—
Doesn’t matter!
It doesn’t absolve
Participants from atrocities
They have wrought
And won’t make
A goddamn difference
In the outcome of this war,
Or replace lives lost,
Or wrecked homes.
So I dig,
And I give,
As the soil has taught me,
Colorful flowers raise
Their innocent heads to the sky
On my side of the street,
Until people
Forget outrage and despair
In smiles,
If just for a minute,
“Oh, what a beautiful garden you have!”
©Olga Gavrilovskiy 2022
Liked or faved by...
Robert L. Martin
3yAt least there is still some beauty and love on this Earth today.
Olga Gavrilovskiy
3y@Robert L. Martin, beauty and love give us a reason to get up each morning.
Barb Clarke
3yIt has been hard to watch the war in Ukraine and feel helpless. To use your talent to give joy to others in this difficult time is a blessing. Nice poem, Olga.
Olga Gavrilovskiy
3y@Barb Clarke thank you :-)
Francis Aparici
3ySadly, there will be cities or towns across the ocean who won't have beautiful gardens for a long, long while - if ever.
Olga Gavrilovskiy
3y@Francis true, we do what we can where we are. But there will be flowers growing and birds singing in places where there once was war, Nature and Beauty are nothing if not persistent, even in the face of human hubris and destruction.
Francis Aparici
3y@Olga Gavrilovskiy I wrote a poem titled Kyiv that basically incorporates your sentiments, Earlier I wrote the poem Bucha which was harsher in tone and sentiment.
Francis Aparici
3yhttps://www.poeticous.com/francis-aparici/kyiv
Olga Gavrilovskiy
3y@Francis have you seen my poem "Cold Spring"?
Charlotte B. Williams
3yOh you like gardening, how nice. I imagine you grow some very beautiful flowers. Creative hobbies can really take your mind off other things that are going on around you can't they ?Keep sowing and growing my friend.
Olga Gavrilovskiy
3y@Charlotte B. Williams thank you, Charlotte :-) It's a true story: I have the largest flower bed of the entire neighborhood and prefer to talk flowers over politics any day. I hope all the colors on my side of the street give just as much joy to my neighbors this year as they did last.