Russia Ukraine Crisis - Don't Ask Me To Die - Says Ukraine. Poem by Bernedita Rosinha Pinto

Don't ask me to cry
when I am dead;
don't ask me to run
when I am wounded;
don't ask me to sleep
when I am worrying;
don't ask me to snore
when I am suffocating;
don't ask me to close my eyes
when bombs are falling;
don't ask me to flee
when the war is at my doorstep;

don't ask me to howl
when I am so fatigued;
don't ask me to ignore
when my friends are dying;
don't ask me to forget
when my children are hungry;
don't ask me to regret
when my mind is so restless;

don't ask me to look at the sky
when missiles are lighting;
don't ask me to walk on the streets
when the bombs are exploding;
don't ask me to forget the realities
when my children are sleeping in bunkers;
don't ask me to daydream
when my family and friends are refugees elsewhere;

don't ask me to forgive
when my grandfather has died in that gunfire;
don't ask me to sit
when my own soldier son is defending my country;
don't ask me to tell you
where my brothers and sisters are hiding;
don't ask me to tell you
why my country is burning;

don't ask me to rise
when anxiety is making me to fall;
don't ask me to be strong
when my courage is running so low;
don't ask me to weep
when tears have overflown my eyelids;
don't ask me to pray
when compassion has forgotten its duty;
don't ask me to hope
when humanity has lost its beauty;
don't ask me to look
when everywhere is disaster and tragedy;

don't ask me to plead for mercy
when every hour bombs keep falling;
don't ask me to anticipate peace
when deaths are escalating every minute;
don't ask me to count stars
when my tired soul is watching missiles in the skies;
don't ask me to pardon my fate
when so unfortunate has been this time of my life;
don't ask me to answer
when the war itself will tell you the painful story of my nation.