Submission by Galina Italyanskaya

[Galina Italyanskaya]

This poem has no special title, so the first line can be used as its title in the contents.
And if you accept it, please do not edit anything! (of course I'll be grateful, if you notify me about any mistakes I missed)
_______________________________________


"A man who wore..."

A man who wore an explosive belt
With thoughts of deadly hate inside the head,
What did you want? What did you think we felt,

When you had brought us to the hell we shared?

Did you believe we are the cause of all

Your troubles, pain and losses, grief and tears?

Did you believe our death would help the world

Become a better place for all your dears?
Or have you lost them too and swore to take revenge?

On whom? On common people like you, just far and strange?
Your boss and those above him made this plan
To guard their interests in oil and gas affairs.

Politics, money, power... What they can

Arrange to reach the goal is hardly fair,

And not about you and us they care.
Who has invented such a nasty trick:

Manipulating people through hate and fear?
And how can one oppose a crazy freak

To break this tuned and so well-oiled gear?
A young policeman gave his life to screen
The citizens he promised to defend*;

An old train driver drove the blown train

Under the ground and held on till the end**;
Those caring people who stood up one for all

And all for one, who lent a helping hand…

I pray we’ll get through, we will never fall,

No matter what is waiting ‘round the bend.

So let it be not easy, when you strive

To stay a human being to last breath,

It will be hard to frighten you with death

As long as you’re not frightened with life.

__________

* Dmitry Makovkin, 29, the policeman, sacrificed his life to stop a suicide bomber just before the railway station blast in Volgograd (2013)
** Alexander Kaverin, 50, the driver of St. Petersburg’s metro train, made the sole correct decision after the bomb went off to drive the train to the nearest station thus saving many passengers’ lives (2017)

 

Best regards

-- 

Gale

[Richard Deodati]

In response to a universal terrorist, Galina Italyanskaya has written "A man who wore..." as if it were a personal letter posted to the terrorist. In it she reveals the grief and pain associated with the tragedy that has unfolded so close to the everyday people around her for the purpose of, among other things, "manipulating people through hate and fear." She lists this among other grievances as part of a diatribe to condemn the massacre and atrocities which have effected so many innocent bystanders. She mentions 2, a young policeman and a train driver, "Those caring people who stood up one for all and all for one, who lent a helping hand..."  Thank You, Galina, for your submission!

[Galina Italyanskaya]

Thank you, Richard, for your response!
Just one thing I want to clarify. "Those caring people who stood up one for all and all for one, who lent a helping hand..." include much more people than two heroes personally mentioned above. It's also all the people whose names I don't know, but who helped: people on duty and people just "passing by", and those who were faraway from the places of the attacks, but helped right after with transport and such.
For example after the last terrorist atack in the metro in St. Petersburg there was a serious problem with traffic, because the metro was closed, the police was searching for other bombs (and found one), and ordinary people through the internet offered their help to drop those citizens who needed to get home, because even municipal transport and taxi, which were made free of charge, couldn't solve the problem.
That's what I meant: those, who arrange terrorist attacks, wait that the attacked people will fall in panic, but when we think and care about each other, our personal fear steps back - and it's not what they planned.