(an open-source poem; it’s public-domain; do something with it)


——– Vitalii Volodymyrovych Skakun —— —— Anastasiia Yalanskaya ——



Mother held him to her chest, whispering to him her heart

My dreams are simple, beautiful boy

Arrive there, and I’ve accomplished my part

Spend your childhood moments happy in our home

Run in fields of wheat, they’ll soon be your own

Become a fair man for me like your father

Study maths and art, find love

Share life with another


Little Vitalii’s fingers, around her thumb wrapped

I’ll be more Mom, I’ll be more for you than that

My days will be short, but you gave me courage untapped

Yes, I will be fair, be kind, and be fun

But will share my life with more than just one


Beneath the main bridge outside Henichesk city

In a uniform with yellow tape, you’ll find my torn body

When confronted with the choice, it was always to be

My nation and lands for my life as my legacy


Brilliant Anastasiia, her father looked in her eyes

My dream for you is to be carefree, you are my dearest prize

Travel the world, understand it by tour

Then live in the West where security’s sure

Perhaps you’ll teach others, or work in AI

When you see hurt and inequity, stand afar to decry


Her dark green eyes admired his strong chin

I love you my Dad, that’s not enough, your dream is too thin

I need to live in a world that is kind and is just

In humanity’s great struggle, I have to join in

It’s part of me, it comes from you, I want decency to win


Near a checkpoint outside Bucha in a car with close friends

Are what remain of us and our humanitarian errands

My heart riddled with bullets, not speech as metaphor

Inside the city there are so many more


Ukraine, sovereign Ukraine, what will your future be

With fists against tank in defense of democracy

Ukraine, brave Ukraine, you fight a global fight

Affixed to the crossroads of East-West military might


We watched you starve under Stalin

We watched armored convoys roll in

We watched you rise in revolution

We cheered your EuroMaidan

We saw the same scenes last century and vowed never again

Events are carbon-copy, but we’re reluctant to join in


In democracy’s battles, you are our front line

Your geography’s blessed and cursed at one time

We elect our leaders to do for us what’s best

A partial Ukraine… politicians won’t skirt that ballot test


In a land-locked Ukraine, wheat prices never go down

And cities lost to oppression is where human hearts drown

Constituents in mourning want something to change

Free-world politicians won’t evade that arrow’s range


We want fearless leadership

We want rhetoric

We want indignant courage

On the face of whom we elect


Scholz, Biden, Macron… take that bet

The battles aren’t written, the trenches aren’t set

We can spend on hardship but not for its sake

Trade us a future bereft aggression and heartache


Send air systems and tanks, hand the public what it wants

Without foes and champions, we feel just the price of croissants


Let us stand with these heroes making cocktails and guns

Let us stand with their people, with mothers holding lifeless sons

We want to share our arsenals, our morality’s at stake

We want to oppose evil, for humankind’s sake

The public yearns to rally, thousands of foreign volunteers

Give us something to believe in, because what we perceive from you is fear



To contact your Democratic Representative in support of Ukraine:

U.K. Parliament: https://www.parliament.uk/get-involved/contact-an-mp-or-lord/ or https://www.writetothem.com/
U.S. House: https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative
U.S. Senate: https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative
French Parliament: https://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/dyn/vos-deputes
Australian Parliament: https://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Guidelines_for_Contacting_Senators_and_Members
Canadian Parliament: https://www.ourcommons.ca/en/contact-us
German Parliament: https://www.bundestag.de/abgeordnete

To help Ukraine’s fight, go here: https://u24.gov.ua/ https://www.supportukraine.co/