2019.10.28.
A Bloody Fairytale
It happened in a country of peasantsin the mountainous Balkans
a troop of schoolchildren
died a martyr's death
in one day.
In the same year
they all were born,
their school days went on the same way
to the same celebrations
they were taken together
vaccinated against the same ilnesses
and all died on the same day.
It happened in a country of peasants
in the mountainous Balkans
a troop of schoolchildren
died a martyr's death
in one day.
And fifty five minutes
before the moment of death
the little troop
was sitting in the school benches.
And the same difficult exercises
they were solving: how much can
a traveler going on foot...
and so on.
Their minds were full
of the same numbers,
and exercise books in school bags
contained a meaningless abundance
of A's and D's.
A handfull of the same dreams
and the same secrets
both of patriotism and of love
they were clenching at the bottoms of their pockets.
And it seemed to everyone
that they will for a long time
that they will for a very long time
be running beneath the blue firmament
until they finish
all the exercises in the world.
It happened in a country of peasants
in the mountainous Balkans
a troop of schoolchildren
died a heroic death
in one day.
Whole rows of boys
took each other's hands
and from their last class at school
went peacefully to the firing squad
as if death was nothing.
Whole rows of friends
ascended at the same time
to their eternal resting place.