I will remember 2022

I will remember the year.
Ukraine survived
Rasputin's curse.
Moscow central:
tanks, troops, terror
into houses, homes, hospitals
into schools, shops, ships
amputating the land
obeying the command
of Grendel's cabal.

I will never forget my ignorance -
how my faith
led me to trust
Mother Russia, Gorbachov's legacy,
seduction by MacDonalds,
and the gas.
Shame on me,
mea culpa.
I failed to believe the intelligence,
predictions, forecasts, warnings.

I was too smart for my own good.
I didn't remember Crimea.
I have nothing to be proud of,
I slept through 2014.
What good was that war?
The Crimean War,
"The Charge of the Light Brigade",
imperialistic glory,
another empire
glorified and defended.

"Bless me Father, for I have sinned.
It's been eight years
since my last confession.
These are my sins:"
Blind - to the pain
Deaf - to the cries
Dumb - too voiceless to fight
for the integrity of your homeland.
I was cavorting with earthworms 
the day Crimea fell.

Russian Orthodox 
sanctimonious stooges
of Rasputin's regime.
No heaven for Ukraine,
only hell.
Belzebub at work.
I've been a disgrace,
a disgrace to my mother and father.
They had Hungarians to dinner
on Christmas Day.

Short trousers on,
across the table, in Limerick,
I saw strangers
and brothers in one,
conjoined in solidarity.
He carved the turkey,
she passed the plates
to God's children
worthy of everlasting love.
The cock crowed three times.

Ireland, silence.
"It will never happen here,
in Europe.
Didn't we have the Nazis?
Haven't we learned?"
Chicken Ki-ev,
How do you pronounce Kyiv?
Vladimir's Mecca
missiled, starved, frozen, flattened, bombed, burnt, killed, refugeed, droned, wrecked, obliterated, 

smoldering,
mud, trenches, shells, graves, amputees, 
Dulce et decorum est ...
It is sweet and fitting to war 
for one’s country.
Moscow smiles,
the dachas warm,
swimming pools of vodka and champagne.
More boys to throw into the special military operation,
more mouths

more guts,
more coffins, 
blankets and pillows for the other world.
Let them go loot and rape,
berserkers 
in the breadbasket of Europe
in wheatfields,
in the eyes of infants, schoolchildren & pets. 
Isn't it easy to smile 
surrounded by sycophants?

I will remember the weather,
the sun, 
the fires, 
the drought,
the melted ice,
the desertification of holiday homes 
for a few days. 
Forever, I will remember the six million 
crossing borders,
looking for helping hands,

succour, shelter, 
food, friends,
fleeing from freezing cold.
thirst, 
hypothermia 
and the pleasure of gonorrhea.
I will remember the dead,
my naivety, ignorance, and safety,
insolence and impotence.
I will not forgive.