Two Poems by Katerina

A Man Who

My mother's wedding,
will always stay in my mind,
even if I wasn't there yet.

Looking at that old picture
no matter how many years pass
the sad faces of my mom's relatives don't change.
They always have that disapproving look
that even the dust can't hide.

My mom in the center,
with her white puffy dress,
and the flower in her hair,
looking like a princess,
standing next to my father...

A man who never understood her value...
A man who took away my childhood...
A man who still instills fear in me,
every time I look at his face.




War

Open your eyes,
finally wake up!
stop talking about how dramatic your life is,
stop pretending that you are miserable.
Stand up on your feet
and look around you

You see the little girl crying?
alone in that corner of this bloody street?
Of course you do not,
your eyes can only see as much as you want them to see,
and you don’t let them see the real pain.

The pain that this boy has,
who begs for mercy from the soldier
without response,
claiming that he as well wants a family to live with,
a father to go fishing with,
a mother to wash him when he spends the whole afternoon,
playing with his friends,
and the only proof that he had fun,
will be the dirt on his face.

He as well wants to have
happy family dinners,
little brothers to share all the happy moments of his life,
and a life. A healthy life,
full of mistakes,
that will make him strong.

But you don’t see that,
so finally open your eyes,
look somewhere further than yourself,
and think what you can do about it.

And then,
when all of this is done,
you can put a smile
on your “never happy” face
and enjoy your life,
without complaints, please.