For Ukraine — People of The Sunflower

Bert Rock
2 min readMar 4, 2022

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by Bert Rock

Original photograph by author

Once again history rolls out the red road of war.

A tyrant sends forth his tanks and his guns

and the lives of his people to sate his bloody thirst.

Putin is an evil coward.

He poisons his own people when they vie for truth,

he infects citizens everywhere with lies and vile ideology.

He is a toxin on this earth, a radioactive sludge.

Ukraine is not my country, but they are my people.

They’re our people because they are people.

Once again, history gives us heroes, like the woman who faced a Russian soldier,

And offered him sunflower seeds to carry in his pocket,

So that the invader would have flowers for his body when he died.

To the bravest comedian in the world, Ukraine’s President,

If I could turn my words into bullets, I would give them all.

His is a noble fight.

Defiance is universal, a language all its own,

It is love for the sovereignty of one’s own soul.

It can be deciphered in the squaring of the chin,

or standing tall in the face of your oppressor, no matter their size.

I do know that much, if little else.

Look them in the eye and let them know that you stand before them.

Win or lose, you stand.

The sunflower is one of nature’s strongest creations.

It absorbs radioactive isotopes from the ground, making it safer, cleaner.

Perhaps that is what they were created for.

When the war is over,

the people of Ukraine will turn their faces toward the sun again.

They make the earth a better place for being here.

Click the link below to learn more about Sunflowers from Kristen M. Stanton.

https://www.uniguide.com/sunflower-meaning-symbolism/

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Bert Rock
Bert Rock

Written by Bert Rock

Arizona writer of fantasy fiction, children’s literature, poetry, and more. Black Lives Matter! Mental Health matters! www.bertrock.com, follow @BertRock1

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