Mommy, mommy
repeated Tyre Nichols
with his last breaths
kicked by the boots
of five policemen
under his mother’s window in Memphis
Please let me go
my mommy doesn’t know where I am
begged my seven-year-old cousin Benio
caught in Lviv in August 1942
while they were taking Benio
from his doorstep
they were murdering
several thousand Jews
in Lviv
Mommy, mommy
call the children writhing
under the bombs in Mariupol
buried in the rubble of their homes
before the eyes of the world
before the eyes of their mothers
the kicked man screamed too softly
the nabbed child begged weakly
the bombed children fell silent
And mommy?
She gave birth in pain
she fed her children with hope
she could not save them . . .
February 27, 2023
Translation from the Polish
Editorial note: The Polish original is forthcoming in Wyspa, no. 1 (2023).