Extending 1938 – v2

They have been holding terror at bay,
within strict constructs, unfairly,
repeating this observation, 1938,
successful at pausing the advance,
but terror and genocide are on the march
because history needs to be remembered,
we have been given the gift, time,
extending 1938 for over two long years,
but at such an awful cost to them...
 
A war of great powers, different ideologies,
yet they have been standing on the margin,
waiting to see the costs, keeping a distance,
keeping their powder dry, fingers in the air,
seeing where the wind blows, the kilometers,
the cost in human lives, destruction,
terror rampant, seeing caution, war fatigue,
a people despairing toward 1939…
 
Some would argue we are again in 1938,
that Ukraine is like Czechoslovakia,
that Europe is the same position,
that they have held terror at bay,
that they have extended 1938,
yet 1939 is knocking, urgent,
wider war may be at hand…
 
We need a radical revision,
urgent resetting of the table,
a D-Day invasion of thought,
to lead to a different outcome,
resolve to making 1945 happen,
from Victory, a just peace will rise…
 
We cannot afford those years,
the horrors of those years in Europe,
the carnage, the utter devastation,
Victory is more urgent in these times
under the shadow of the bomb…
 
And, no, leaders, this is not 1961,
not the Berlin Wall or missiles in Cuba,
The choices you make in this moment
will last a generation or more…
 
Victory for them, this people,
Will be victory for us,
from that a just peace will rise…
 
===================
Merged June 24, 2024
Extending 1938 – v2
 
June 24, 2024
Making 1945 happen
https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2024/06/making-1945-happen.html
companion poem to Extending 1938
June 24, 2024
Extending 1938
https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2024/06/extending-1938.html
Watched June 24, 2024
https://www.youtube.com/live/PcFUnybWftM?t=195s  
Keeping Up Support to Ukraine – Defining as Long as It Takes? ·
Lennart Meri Conference 2024
Streamed live on May 18, 2024
quote of Timothy Snyder, Levin Professor of History and Global Affairs
at Yale University, about the war in Ukraine is analogous to the
choices made by great powers about the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia
 
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Poetry, Ukraine, victory, hope, courage, heroes, US, NATO, EU, proxy, terror, genocide, Tim Snyder,
 
#Poetry #Ukraine #victory #hope #courage #heroes #US #NATO #EU #proxy #terror #genocide #TimSnyder