The First Day

Suzanne Morris

April 23, 2022

Two weeks after the war begins,

news anchors on location are

showing signs of fatigue from

long days and late nights

eyes puffy; hair slicked down

so quickly are developments

racing ahead

there’s no time for the usual

on-air speculation as

Volodymyr Zelensky and the

Ukrainians grow larger than life

and already the first day

seems in the distant past

but I cannot forget

the attractive woman with

two wide-eyed children

clinging to her side

in heavy coats and

furry hoods 

sheltering in an

underground station in Kyiv

among a noisy, jostling crowd.

Having found the woman

speaks broken English

the reporter leads in for the

television audience, 

They were roused from their sleep

at 5 a.m. by the sound of bombardment

and they fled....

The mother is toting a cellophane

bag of treats

for her children have had

nothing to eat.

Leaning close with her mic,

the reporter asks with feeling

Did you have any idea of the danger

when you went to bed?

The woman’s face clouds and

she shakes her head

No!  I was completely surprised.

I never thought

the Russians would invade.

Two months after

the war begins,

millions are displaced, tens of

thousands wounded or dead

news teams rotate

back home to the States

fresh faces appear

before the camera

and I wonder

how far from home the

woman and her children are 

and if they are safe

somewhere

wondering if home is

still there.

A novelist with eight published works spanning forty years, Suzanne Morris now focuses largely on writing poems.   Her poetry is included in the anthology, No Season for Silence - Texas Poets and Pandemic (Kallisto GAIA Press, 2020).  Examples have also appeared in The Texas Poetry Assignment and The New Verse News.