The Truth of Time
(As Told by The Pictures)
written & performed by: Frank Prem
@frank_prem
picture 1
a group
of soldiers
are hanging out
of the doors
and windows
of a moving train
leaving egypt
heading
to the western front
ready
for a stoush
a bit
of a barney
it’s time
to come to grips
with the enemy
and they’re cherry ripe
for a
blue
picture 2
dimitriy
is holding olga –
tightly –
on the platform
a blue train
is nearly ready to leave
she’ll go
to poland
across the border
dimitriy
will join his friends
in the territorials
a week
to practice
how to hold a rifle
and to learn
first aid
then away
he must forget
to be an accountant
he’s
a front-line fighter
now
picture 3
a heap of rubble –
bricks
and half-bricks
timber and concrete
and dust –
lies as a mound
among mounds
it is
a streetscape
an avenue
of homes
destroyed by artillery
a soldier
rifle
slung over a shoulder
picks his way
toward camera
there is nothing left
that might hold
use
or meaning
picture 4
the village near kyiv
is a series
of mounds
rubble
that was homes
and houses
a month or so
ago
a woman
is sifting
searching
for something –
anything –
that might
have a use
it’s all been destroyed
by missiles
and artillery
she hasn’t found
a lot
that will be helpful
***
pictures
pictures
they won’t
let me sleep
in the night
they shout at me
that we have come
full circle
and the ukraine
is in 1916
all over again
Frank Prem
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