'Vana ee Meer' (War & Peace)
Jeanne Marie Carlston
The snow fell without sound
or so it seemed
Hidden by the laughter of bundled up children
carefree, at play
Building their own winter wonderland
sledding down to the water's edge
Beautiful and precious,
these innocent faces,
not yet exposed to the world and it's system
For they are peaceful creatures by nature
all arguments quickly forgotten in the frolic of their lifestyle
Their parents sit and stand
on the invisible border of the young dreamland
Where it is usually forbidden to return
These adults, some of them sip of the spirit
to warm themselves in the subzero weather
Posed as statues, one wonders
of what they think on this New Year's day
In the foreground of this medieval convent
smoke from a nuclear plant rises above into the sky
I look back to the church's Orthodox crosses
and beyond the children, across the river,
to the Soviet stars that crown the adjacent stacks
The two at war in my mind
I must let it rest
for there will be no peace between the two
today or tomorrow
maybe next year.
I think that this is what the statues are thinking
as I pass my candy to their children.
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