When ash has fallen
on corpses, a stillness settles
in the shadow of mayhem,
a numbness has grown
from mourning the fallen,
from the guilt of forgetting,
the faces of neighbors
and how laughter infects
even the mind of a foe.
Still, there are those
who are tricked to believe
that sometimes
this war had to be waged,
even if we all stand to loose
all that’s been savored
for a cause
that nobody cares for.
‘All has become quiet in Moscow.’– Count L N Tolstoy, The Cossacks, Sampson Low, Morton, Searle & Rivington, 1878
Petros Malayan
Today Linda hosts at dVerse with a selection of first sentences from some famous Novels. I cannot avoid writing about the war and maybe we had an inkling of good news today, but I feel that even if it ends in some semblance of peace I feel that it will be a very depressing future.
March 29, 2022
Björn Rudbergs writings 
Same line! I think we’ve both approached it with sorrow.
Bjorn- that last line is so powerful and speaks volumes about war in general. Stellar poem.
“for a cause
that nobody cares for.” That says it all about wars. The truth is depressing and you captured it very well.
Such a contemporary contemplation
“a stillness settles
in the shadow of mayhem,” evocative image
Much💜love
We picked the same line–Sarah, too. I think the ending really sums up the situation of this hopeless, causeless war.
I have a feeling that Moscow may be experiencing more ‘underground’ noise from its citizens than we realize.
So carefully and intricately constructed, the first lines read like lines that deserve to be remembered for a long while. I hear of bizarre phone calls from Russian soldiers home on mobiles they have routinely stolen, and therefore easily monitored by Ukrainians intelligence, that boast of looting, how cool Ukrainians seem to be, and the first time of seeing asphalt and streetlights….these are really boys plucked from small villages in Siberia living goodness knows what kind of existence normally…the Kremlin knows its audience…
“a stillness settles in the shadow of mayhem.”
– a poignant line, somber poem
A classic reference to a contemporary happening. A peace is hoped for but the drastic consequences of conflict is a tragedy!
Hank
Bjorn, I had to come back to this because the first read left me speechless. Reading it again today, the immeasurable loss of it all feels overwhelming and cannot be take in in its entirety.
Politics propaganda is so destructive! It is hard to believe that the Russians are convinced this is a worthy cause. Great poem Bjorn.
Your second stanza says it all, Bjorn. We are tricked and manipulated and used by those who stand to gain something from this sea of blood and carnage.My only consolation is that more people seem to be becoming aware of the extreme danger of the nationalism and fascism we are seeing emerge.
Laughter does infect the mind of a foe. If only that could be remembered before the infection of aggression takes hold.