The Journalists Receive Medical Supplies

The Journalists sent a text to Congregation Emanu-El with their thanks

The return

we want back home, where we got our first grays

where the sky pours into windows in blue rays

where we planted a tree and raised a son

where we built a home that grew moldy without us

 

but the road back home blossoms with mines

needle grass and fog cover the open pits

we come back bitter, guilt-ridden, reticent

we just want our home back and a little peace

 

if only to go there, to breath the scent of mold

pulling yellowed photographs out of the family albums

we’re going home where we won’t grow old

parents and graves and walls waiting for us

 

we will walk back, even with bare feet

if we don’t find our home in the place where we left it

we will build another one in an apricot tree

out of luscious clouds, out of azure ether

 

Lyuba Yakimchuk, 2015