As I Pray…

A POEM BY CLUB MEMBER IAN MARTIN

As I pray

It’s the day that I always say a little prayer

As I wake Figgy up from her winters slumber

The charger purrs away as I pray for no more rust,

That the mouse that raided the garage hasn’t nested

Or that annoying oil leak has ended up all flooded out?

The roof looks wrecked, covered in dust and debris

And I pray that I can clean it up and the chrome again!

The first rally in April as my prayers extended for some sunshine

So we can drop the roof and just drive and relax.

A change from the last two years as I thank that we survived?

But my happy thoughts are shattered as I go in for a coffee

The radio blasts out that Russia has just invaded  Ukraine.

They say its bombs started falling around 5 am this morning

The tanks rolled in as the plane’s angry call filled the skies

The transmission was halted by the thud of further bombs falling

I am filled with horror at the thought of what they must be fearing

As the world they loved, just last night, is sadistically destroyed.

My friend, from the Park Run, is from Ukraine, her family is still there

Mother, brother, uncle and aunts all in and around Kyiv

They say her mother will try and leave but her brother will stay and fight.

My prayers for the condition of my little Figgy and our upcoming rally

Pale into insignificance to what my friend must be praying for today

Communications down contacted limited, what images must she see

As pictures of bombed buildings, damage and convoy of tanks

Rolling towards her city, where she grew up happy and free, Kyiv

I pray now not for Figgy but for my friends family to survive this war

Not in a Russian controlled Ukraine, that is what Putin seems to want

But in a free Ukraine, it’s proud people rejoicing in their victory

It’s mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters united as one again

So pray for them and all peoples of our world living in conflict, and not my car!