Journey of Words

in Memphis (2022) / on Ukraine

We’re at a bus stopOn Elvis Presley BoulevardWe’ve been to checkThe King’s still deadAnd waiting thereIn Tennessee’s afternoon heatWe talk of EuropeWhat we’ve shared of itThe moral question?For a young Polish man from EnglandOn holiday with his fatherThere is no doubtI’d be going home to fightWith no thought of checking outHeroic resistanceRemember The AlamoThe Red… 

We're at a bus stop
On Elvis Presley Boulevard
We've been to check
The King's still dead
And waiting there
In Tennessee's afternoon heat
We talk of Europe
What we've shared of it

The moral question?
For a young Polish man from England
On holiday with his father
There is no doubt
I'd be going home to fight
With no thought of checking out

Heroic resistance
Remember The Alamo
The Red Coats at Rourke's Drift
The Warsaw Uprising
No wife, no children
Simple, do or die
Take up arms! Resist!

No concept of seeking safe haven
And live to fight in other ways

A young man's duty
Fully detached from his mother's cord
Not thinking of the pain of birth
No consideration of the milk she provided
He's up and running
With an epitaph that he's imagined
Here lies a man who died when trying
To fight off the Russian Orcs

But...
He's not from Ukraine
It's not his fight to fight
He has nothing to lose
No decisions to make
Not yet

~

CLP 01/09/2025

3 responses

  1. Stef Avatar
    Stef

    Not yet. Good point.

    1. Christopher Perry Avatar
      Christopher Perry

      Stef, Thank you for reading and taking time to comment. I have made a tweak to the penultimate lines, but not the last one.

  2. Stef Avatar
    Stef

    I like the changes, but the reality of the situation is the same of course and thats why the last line lands so well. Cheers!

The author

Chris Perry

Related posts