Shudder
for Ukraine

If one small cell could pause its liquid path,
could gaze into its sky
and wonder at the movement of its gods —
those great, burning cogs that struggle and strain
to dash the fluid lattice of its way —
would it shudder?
Would it drop imagined eyes to the cobbles of its track
and disavow the shadow on its task?

Or would it tremble?
Would it thank the ones that be
as it spills into the sky
in an unknown, broken street,
to die a death of dryness
in a ruined, stony sea?

— Thomas LaVoy

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This poem is available for use by composers under certain terms, so long as permission has been granted by me in writing. If you are interested in setting Shudder, please fill out the form on my poetry page and indicate that you would like to do so.