Oleh's Chant

The sub-titled Ukrainian short film, 'Motherland', made by Kiev based Max Smetana, is about the losses and gains of migration. The main character, Oleh, gets a virtual tour of his old village, sees his ageing parents at home, and is moved to tears....The poem below is to honor those feelings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUN3qDXZxLM&feature=youtu.be

In mid 2016, I spent a month in and around Kiev and couple of days in Vovchok, a little village about 100 kilometers out of Kiev, staying with my son-in-law's family. It was very similar to Oleh's village, and just as hauntingly pretty.

Walking into memory
where what is
and what is remembered
fuses,
amuses
and bemuses,
til tear ducts swell
and drown the space
'tween what befalls and what befell.

Who knows, who cares
why joy and pain are drawn
so giddily,
so readily,
so headily
from this common well,
whose echoes toll our time and fate,
remind us it isn't just ambition's friend,
but also
the ephemerality of our estate?

Brief encounters,
Dreams and dances
Beginnings, ends and chances
Segue out to fading of the light
Mourned by grieving clouds
Whose tears awaken hope
And life's delight.

So cry for old time's sake
And new
Then smile
For all the world's alive
And you
While you yet breathe
Can thrive