Dear LPG readers, 

I hope that LPG will be able to post this poem on February 24th, 2024.  I will never forget today as the second anniversary of the day when the mid-morning television programme I watched was interrupted by a short news bulletin.  It confirmed the fact that Russia had invaded the Ukraine. 

I felt the need to compare life for most of the peaceful world with what could be in store for the people of that country.  

While we all keep up with developments by watching and reading, I imagined how quickly and drastically day–to–day life would be transformed for that country’s residents.  It occurs to me that parks, in a place like Lewisham, are a source of tranquillity, while I envisage the parks in Ukraine having been used for a different purpose as the war in that country continues at terrible cost.   

I sincerely hope that Start and Finish, the poem's title, rings true by now.  I have sent it well before the date I requested that it be posted in the hope that it will serve as a reminder of an occurrence that is now fading into world history.

 
My poem tries to acknowledge such an experience. 

START AND FINISH

It was a dry cave and dark.
We conquered the dark.
Lighting a fire so we could
protect each other night and day.
We moved on in the dark, hid in the light,
finally settling into built apartments.

The finish recalled the start.
They burnt our apartments,
They murdered our sons, they raped
our beautiful wives and daughters. 
We had marked the caves, just in case.
They were dry and dark, but
we were scared to light a fire.

In memory of ‘ordinary’ people, the other genocide victims of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Foster Murphy