08/03/2024
Happy International Women's Day!
What I wish is World Peace! 🕊🌏
Below is a poem written by my dearest friend Mariadolors Romeu Font based on the real tragic events that happened to me during a trip to Russia when I was visiting my parents in my hometown Belgorod on December 30, 2023... Let the words speak out for me!
I want Peace!
Yesterday Anna spelled out
The terrors and horrors of the war
That is raging and spreading over
The border of Russia and Ukraine.
She, more than anyone, can know:
While she gave us a class
In gymnastics, I saw on her shoulder
The scar from a recent shot.
Anna was with her mother
And there were no birds flying in the sky,
Only pieces of shrapnel
That got entangled in their hair.
There was this brave woman
Who amid all the terror
Just wanted to hug her mother
And protect her with love.
But soldiers at war
Don't know how to respect feelings.
They only fight by following orders,
And some are just children.
What sadness wars bring us:
So much suffering comes to so many
And darkness and sorrow settle
In their innocent hearts.
Anna is a great example
Of enduring such terror:
Despite her bitter experience,
She taught the class
Without showing her pain.
The music played non-stop
And she, the dancer,
Rotated and raised her arms
To encourage us all.
A towel covered the scar
That later she told us about.
And there in the warm pool
I felt sorry for complaining
Of all the trivial things
That I am ashamed to disclose.
Anna and her mother
Were brutally separated,
Forced apart without knowing
If ever again they could meet.
She maintains her smile
Every day in her dance
While we do a routine
Without thought of shrapnel
That our hair might entangle.
And if I want to hug my son
I can do so without hindrance,
Without fear of a bomb
That might force us apart.
I have all the time in the world
And whenever I like
I can go for a walk
Or shop and chat with a friend.
Anna can only dream of this
When she comes to class.
But how many Annas are there in the world
That war has already silenced!
Today here in England
In my heart I miss Lleida, my home,
Where no friends, no house and no flowers
Know of the darkness of war,
Where birds fly over unhindered
And almond trees happily bloom.
Today I thought about Anna
And wished that the sweetness
Of my Lleidan land
Could dissolve the bitterness
Of her dreadful experience
And the terror of the shot in her arm
And show her a world at peace
That she hardly remembers.
Anna, may your pain be assuaged
With an endless hug of love!
