What use is poetry in time of war?

Insular England mourned

a much-loved tree felled

with chainsaw by barbarians

in dead of night. A local

politician compared it

to the death of Kennedy.

 

Meanwhile Russia continued

to bomb Ukraine, now

almost forgotten

amid daily massacres

in Israel and Palestine.

Evil resumed, three eyes

for one. Yet this feels different.

 

Is that feared beast really slouching

towards Bethlehem this time?

 

Shalom, said the freed old woman

to her captor. A moment we cling to.