Belarus – Pamela Toomey

by Pamela Toomey

Hear me, O Hermes, haunt of in-between sites: 
‘Twixt knavery and bravery, very sharp stake;
‘Twixt demagogue and dialogue, vulgar gun sights;
‘Twixt bayonets and baritones, guilty knife smites.
Clear space in the lair of the forked-tongue snake
 
For luster that glistens from lodestar’s tripart:
Sviatlana soars straight from bleeding land’s ache,
Maria, Veranika, hope’s shining restart.
They hear with the heart as a healing art.
Clear space in the lair of the forked-tongue snake
 
For civil engagement despite regime goons.
Their bolt on free speech fluent hand gestures break;
Articulate runes flow from mute finger-tunes,
Thwarting two-headed Hydra: tyrant and tycoons.
Clear space in the lair of the forked-tongue snake
 
For theaters to flourish despite despot’s binds
Making mother’s tongue mum and truth-telling fake.
Brave actor, truth-bearer, genuflects and unwinds
Real “thought crimes” awash in balaclava blinds.
Clear space in the lair of the forked-tongue snake
 
For sanctions to sink coterie who abets.
Ban access to SWIFT, apply the foot brake
So basilisk’s lucre gets snared in the nets
That trap Russian asps grabbing potash assets.
Clear space in the lair of the forked-tongue snake.
 
‘Twixt tyrant and teacher, vent and invent,
Intrepid Belarusians choose to partake
Of elections unrigged, dialogue that’s intent 
On self-determination, change that’s meant
To air out the lair of the forked-tongue snake.

In Belarus white flowers bloom Reflected on steel-plated gloom Of armored bodies; phalanx hewn From tyrant’s need to crush the tune Of freedom’s trill, its voice entomb. We are alive and will resume Soft tap on Kevlar hearts, exhume Blest Gate of Dawn while hearts balloon In Belarus. Outflanked by tanks and rattling boom We face the fray: doom stacked on doom. O Western world, seek no cocoon; Democracy is not immune To growing glut of despots’ spume In Belarus.

Tag: Belarus

Light’s Glare on Snake’s Lair

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