Sometimes a poem is crafted in such a way that it speaks to all times as well as particular times. Such is the case with Tablets VI written by the Iraqi-American poet Dunya Mikhail. This is universal verse accomplishes much at the same time, such as telling the story of violence in Ukraine as well as stating reoccurring themes familiar to us in the Christian season of Lent. These excerpts point to all these and more.
When the sun is absent
the flower misses her
and when the absence grows long
the flower looks inside herself
for another light.
I am the plural
who walks to you
as a singular one.
Before you shoot someone
remember their mother’s eyes
will follow you wherever you go
until she drowns you in her tears.
They didn’t like his idea
so they shot him in the head.
From the hole the bullet caused
his idea will reach the world
and unfurl like a climbing plant.
Only one heart resides
in each person
but each is a train full of people
who die
when you kill
what you think is one.
The trees, like us,
resort to their roots
in times of danger.
During the pandemic
we are a forest – trees
standing alone together.
What if the guns
turn into pencils
in the hands of the soldiers
and they underline
the places on the map
as sites they must see
before they die?
vitalwholeness 
Thank you, Tim. After hearing Uktaie’s president speak to the UN, one can scarcely imagine the how many mothers’ eyes are trained on Putin. pwh