From Perth to Volgograd Via Bratislava With Tears

No heating in student dormitories

in those times...

no hot water and neither too much food to buy

with few rubbles they gave us each week

we ended up waiting for hours

with equally desperate

and hungry Volgograd folk

in front of empty shops

waiting for delivery that never came

So we shared the watery porridge

sharing one hospital bed

and one chamber pot

hiding under our tongues

those awful sleeping pills

they fed us with

to stay calm and docile

no matter what

washing with few drops

of water from a broken sink

every morning and every night

making friendship for life

Eventually I came back to Slovakia

back to my husband and my daughter

and my teaching job

and she married a man in Volgograd

where she stayed raising her own babies

taking a position at the university

that have trained us once both

pen palls we become

sharing our family problems

our worries

our future

from Volgograd

to Bratislava

and back with love…

She wrote me about her young brothers

being snatched from home

at night to go and fight in Afghanistan

her mother loosing her mind

her father shot one day in the city square

for stealing a freshly killed cow

that was ready to be quartered

and sent for feast to Moscow

for some high ranked communists

he only wanted to taste a piece of meat

after long time...

I moved to live abroad

to Perth in Western Australia

and her brother moved to live

in Bratislava

Her poor brother broken in his spirit

and his mind

released from his soldier’s duties

ran away from Russia with his Afghanistan bride

and came hide in my hometown city I left behind

He kept writing me from there

just like his sister continue to do

From Bratislava via Volgograd

to Perth with love…

So many letters and so many broken lives

so much hatred in this world

so much we do not know…

I held two last letters in my hand

one from my friend in Volgograd

and one from her sister in law in Bratislava

let me share with you my replies...

To Volgograd via Bratislava

from Perth with love

My dearest Ekaterina

let me write you in Russian

the language we have loved

so much once

in your Volgograd:

"Vysokaja mysl

Vysokie oblaka

Vysokie normy

Nada Zit Vysoko

Ty uze v godach

Stal uze starym ja

Prosba u menja

Gory i doly

Do gluchoty

dokrichatsja

pogubili u tebja

bratishka …”

Dead is your brother

old we both are

the hatred and sorrow

we once planned to leave behind

with awful hospital bed

watery porridge and chamber pot

the forced on us opium pills

hidden under our tongues

we shared once

dreaming about better future

that never reached you

in doomed Russia

the same silence

of one fate

and no one

is ever

responsible…

Communists or Putin

the same thing to you…

The last Russian words

you hear me to say

and thousands more in English

forever will be coming to you:

"U tebja druzia

zelaju vam scastia

bratskaja ljubov

nikogda nestratitsja

Rossia tvoja rodina

chleba treba

dengi nada

potrebnosti

naznanie

v tvojich interesach

vdoch vydoch

Besplatnyj

takoj za k-ryj ne vzymajut platy

nevozmozhnoj

stanovitsja tverdym kak kamen

tvoja pravda

tvoja muzyka."

Surround yourself

with friends you

can trust,

your love for your brother

never leaves you

just like you never loose my love,

you have to be strong

you have to be hard,

Russia demands it from you

Russia is your family

and only one they let you to mourn,

you need to eat

you need money to work

you need to survive

so please do

that is all what matters NOW…

To Bratislava via Volgograd

from Perth with love

Dear Serena I never met you really

but your husband described you always

as the most precious flower of his life,

just a hated muslim for others,

but not for him ever.

He is dead now, they killed him because he dared

to help other muslim refugees

just like you have been once

and I am so ashamed to admit

my countrymen were so readily

and happy to admit to be killers on the loose

backed by Slovak government

and Putin regime

they have nothing to fear

they are truly celebrated for their victories

to extinguish so readily the ‘muslim lover’

they are ready than ever to eradicate

the fearful ‘muslim threat or muslim weed’!

Dear Selena how can i defend my homeland in the case like this?

If anyone back home would listen to reason

if anyone back home would know

what love for your neighbour as for yourself

truly means I would tell them this:

My homeland, Slovakia

along with Hungary are only two

European countries

who refused to take any refugees

and now they will pay a fine to EU

for refusing to take up their quota.

They have always stated

they will not be swarmed by ‘hated muslims’

at any cost!

At the same time Serbian workers are,

legally and illegally,

heading to Slovakia

with a nod from the Slovakian government

desperate for labour.

The number of Serbs

coming to work in Slovakia

has been climbing since 2015.

In July the registered number was 9,363

(61 % increase in January).

The number will only rise

boasted Miroslav Kralik,

the president of the Slovak-Serbian

Chamber of Commerce,

Serbians are just like us,

we trust them he said!

Are they? Well Serbia is grateful

to Slovakia that again

against its best conscience

is one of only five in the EU

that declined to recognise

Kosovo’s independence

another unfortunate Muslim country

from Serbia in 2008.

But that does not mean

Serbia is not trying to poach

its businesses.

Serbian officials

have been trying

to persuade carmakers

with factories in Slovakia

to move south to join Fiat,

which is already there.

Even if they do,

it will be several years

before production could begin.

Until then Serbs will keep coming

to make money in my homeland of fool?

Or too trustworthy people?

I will always love my homeland

dear Selena

and I uphold what is dear to me

my family and my culture

and my heritage

but I COULD NEVER COME BACK

AND LIVE IN THE COUNTRY

WHO SPIT IN THE FACE OF THOSE

OF TRUE NEEDS

AND AT THE SAME TIME

LET ‘SERBS TO TAKE ADVANTAGE

OF THEM

BECAUSE THEY LOOK THE SAME…

THE SERBS

WHO KILLED SO MANY INNOCENT

IN KOSOVO, BOSNIA AND CROATIA…

Who answer me my question? Slovakia why????

No one will answer my question Selena

if anyone back home will speak to me ever again

but it doesn’t matter really we have to voice

what we believe in

no matter cost

WE HAVE ONLY ONE CONSCIENCE

ALL OF US…

SO LET US SHARE OUR TEARS

AND HEARTBREAK TOGETHER

FOR MANY YEARS TO COME

AND LET US BELIEVE FOR THE BETTER WORLD

ONCE MAY COME FOR ALL OF US

FROM PERTH WITH LOVE TO YOU SELENA

From Perth to Volgograd via Bratislava with love...