We Didn’t Wait for Spring
By: Daniel Fruman
(01.03.2022)
We didn’t wait for spring,
Young people never do.
Instead we cursed the summer
For its swift departure.
We worried about tables booked at clubs,
About how we would celebrate our birthdays,
About planning reunions
That every day seem farther.
We didn’t wait for spring,
Because exams were just around the corner,
Because we were consumed in trivial pursuits.
Sitting at a pub that Wednesday evening,
I didn’t wait for spring.
World-weary with naïveté, we watched the news,
And didn’t wait for spring.
“The war has started”
“God help us”
Half-awake I saw the words on a bright screen.
And then I waited,
Not for spring,
For help,
For comfort,
For salvation,
Safety…
Heart like a man strapped to an electric chair,
Or like a boy that learned how little summer’s worth.
Pent up.
Confused.
Like an impotent dog.
I write my papers,
Engage in trivial pursuits,
And plan reunions with people I don’t know,
And wait for spring…
To keep myself.
Or not…
We didn’t wait for spring,
Because we thought that there would never be another spring.
We didn’t wait for spring,
But here she is –
The flowers bloom with bombs,
The fields with blood.
Spring has come,
With the soul of resurrection – and the heart of death.