1
A last look
at the Madonna and Child icon
nailed to the wall for more than fifty years
before she closed the door
Outside sticky white foam
clung to grass and trees
The old woman breathed bitter fumes
Her eyes watered As a neighbour
with her goat tried to board the bus
she ran to help The animal was torn
from them and tossed by the militia
into the road Villagers watched stunned
anxious about the animals
they were forced to leave behind
The old woman feared for her family
in the coming days At the hospital
her son lay in a ward for the dying
She slept on pallets with others
camping on the basement floor
many with sweats and coughs spitting
where listless children played and slept
Buckets against the wall the only sanitation
Each evening she thought on her icon
gathered the family around to pray
Stroking a small head curls came away in her hand
2.
After watching her son die
she kissed her sick grandchildren
and their mother then spitting blood
her body ravaged by unexplored pains
the old woman left them
and went home to die
The long walk back road pockmarked
weeds growing through the cracks
Thirsty she sipped water from nearby streams
and spat the metallic taste of old coins
lingering on her tongue
The village desolate
no people no animals no birds
In the general store
dust everywhere empty shelves
but mail sacks overflowing
In rooms at the back
plates unwashed beds unmade
At her own gate she sank
to her knees and kissed the ground
No-one would force her to leave again
Next day covering her head
with a babushka she slowly
climbed the winding iron stairs
to ring the church bells
until her ears buzzed with pain
and the ropes cut deep into her hands
She cried aloud through the deafening sound
cursing God for her loneliness
3.
One by one
they defied the militia
and came back old women all
to live out their remaining days
On Sundays
they’d gather in the church
light candles and chant litanies
for their dead each bearing
a stone within her heart
They shared food
taken from silent homes
ghost-haunted
found vodka
enough to help them laugh
over lost teeth and hair
and to dull the pain
But when it became too hard
to bear
they held each other
as life slipped away
The village one vast sarcophagus