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'Grieving Ukrainian Mother' (As seen on TV)

The caption caught my eye with morning tea;

Tearful in woe, she loomed large on the screen.

The opened plastic bag revealed her son;

Her heartbreak and distress was hard to bear.

The brother held her in a sad caress;

Distraught, they parried questions from the press.

 

And I was torn. Should this not be discreet,

This tragedy, and not for public view?

Then someone else, a man, saw his friend, dead,

And turned away and ran with head in hands.

The image closed, as though in hot pursuit.

Could they be spared the clutches of this brute?

 

The answer, sadly, in the end is no.

We see this truth, though inconsiderate,

And understand and do what must be done.

If not, we grasp the daily feeds of news

And pundits throwing numbers everywhere,

But not the reason why some fight, or care.

Ukraine

◄ Rain

Tears ►

Comments

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Stephen Gospage

Tue 19th Apr 2022 06:44

Thank you, Brenda. There is a difficult balance to be struck on this issue, which your comment sums up perfectly.

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Brenda Wells

Mon 18th Apr 2022 18:32

I agree that privacy should be allowed for those in intimate painful situations. However, it is essential that others know of what is happening and that it is causing others such pain.
In some ways perhaps we can share a little of this, as we stand with those who are suffering.
We can only hope that our shared horror and outrage at what is taking place may help to hasten its end.
A sensitively written gentle piece Stephen, thank you for sharing.

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Stephen Gospage

Sat 16th Apr 2022 17:30

Thanks to Greg, Julie, Rudyard, Holden and K. Lynn for liking this poem and to MC, Stephen, John C and John B for the interesting comments.

Like most of you, I am instinctively uncomfortable when I see recently bereaved people thrust into the public eye. It seems undignified and unworthy of a civilised society. On the other hand, it does bring home the horror of war to those who may otherwise be apathetic or just plain disbelieving.

So, as the poem says, I am torn, but on balance I accept that such close up grief is a powerful tool for bringing the sheer awfulness of this war into our homes. We are all participants now, whether we take in refugees, make donations or put pressure on our leaders.

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John Botterill

Sat 16th Apr 2022 07:43

You have captured truth here, Stephen. Is the 'news' just 'entertainment' of a ghoulish kind? Who and what is it for?

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John Coopey

Fri 15th Apr 2022 22:56

Powerful and disturbing.

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Stephen Atkinson

Fri 15th Apr 2022 16:50

It's a double edged sword isn't it. On one hand you're thinking why show that? On the other, there's still people who need to actually see it to believe, or care.
Great piece, as usual, Stephen

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M.C. Newberry

Fri 15th Apr 2022 15:42

I share your misgivings about this public intrusion into essentially
private grief. We know what war does to people's lives and the
media should be able to learn from the work of the reporters of
the past and let the images speak for themselves without the
"in your face" invasion of the personal space of the emotionally
distraught at the time of their greatest vulnerability.

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Stephen Gospage

Fri 15th Apr 2022 13:44

I wrote this after seeing a 'Grieving Ukrainian Monther' featured on CNN (and captioned as such), just after discovering her son's body in Bucha. I wondered whether it was appropriate to intrude on someone's grief in this way. In the end, I can see some reasons why it was.

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