Donbass Girl

Donbass girl, hold aloft the daisies,
Unchain the innocent drowned

In sorrow; unmoor the fairies ravaged
By Aidar, let not the bitterness cling

To callow shores; Donbass girl, steel forth
The morrow, ascend beyond the demons

Of the bone-strewn earth; bow unto the fallen
Lost on cryptic battlegrounds, thrice bound

The Don, thrice bound the penitent; for
The lonely traveler shall be engulfed

By the azure sphere, the Kraken
Banished before the dawn’s early

Light, and the sun will envelop
Her newborn babe, the moon will

Kiss the stars as the night folds
Over; kneel in prayer before

The sacred river, from the lark unto
Oblivion, and she will carry you home

David Penner’s articles on politics and health care have appeared in Dissident Voice, CounterPunch, Global Research, The Saker blog, OffGuardian and KevinMD; while his poetry can be found at Dissident Voice, Mad in America, and redtailedhawk.substack.com. Also a photographer, he is the author of three books of portraiture: Faces of The New Economy, Faces of Manhattan Island, and Manhattan Pairs. He can be reached at 321davidadam@gmail.com. Read other articles by David.