touching bleeding flesh - defender

The earth swallows the dead too quickly here,
so we hold them first—
hands pressed to torn uniforms,
to warmth slipping away in the frozen mud,
to the breath that shudders once, then never again.
 
Shrapnel sings its metal hymn,
a discord we know too well.
It carves into us, into our silence,
leaving wounds deeper than the skin,
buried where no medic’s hands can reach.
 
We do not flinch at the blood anymore.
It is part of us now,
a language spoken in torn arteries,
in whispered names before the radios go silent,
in boots left standing where a soldier no longer does.
 
Somewhere beyond this trench,
they count our dead like numbers on a page,
but here, each loss is a name, a face,
a brother who will never go home,
a sister who fought until the last shell fell.
 
Touching bleeding flesh,
I swear again—
for every fallen comrade,
for every stolen life,
for Ukraine, still breathing, still unbroken,
I will not fall today.”
 
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February 27, 2025
touching bleeding flesh
(written by a medic on the front lines in Ukraine)
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Edited February 26, 2025
touching bleeding flesh – v2
https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2025/02/touching-bleeding-flesh-v2.html
"The present memory of that day" is both 2/24/2022 for Ukraine and Ukrainians
and 2/14/1991 for me personally. I am using my experience of detailed visceral
images of lifting the blood and brains of my father to give even a touch of
authenticity to this poem, merging my conversation with one defender and
the words of that other defender yesterday to write "touching bleeding flesh "
&
Edited February 26, 2025
The present memory of that day – v2
https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2025/02/the-present-memory-of-that-day-v2.html
February 25, 2025
Memory of February 24, 2022
as described by defender of Ukraine 
&
edited February 15, 2025
Three years of terror, of genocide – v2
https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2025/02/three-years-of-terror-genocide-v2.html
March 5, 2022
Don’t give Ukraine to the Madman
https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2022/03/dont-give-ukraine-to-madman.html
 
All of my poems, photographs, and videos are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025. All rights are reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss (raymondafoss@gmail.com)  for usage. See all 53,000+ of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.
 
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poetry, Ukraine, Russia, NATO, war, invasion, Putin, terror, genocide, Crimea, 1000 Days, Three Years, Europe, Zelenskyy, Trump,
 
#poetry #Ukraine #Russia #NATO #war #invasion #Putin #terror #genocide #StandWithUkraine #ThreeYears #Europe #Zelenskyy #Trump #StandWithUkraine