Навіщо. What For

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Of family relics, from my great-grandparents,

Although from my maternal side

There was a chest full of buttons

Where the oldest ones had two-headed eagles on them,

And then there were ones with copper stars,

Heavy buttons with anchors: probably, from a uniform.

Small, made of mother-of-pearl; and made of turtle.

There was a story behind each of them.

Some were tearing them off, some were undoing them.

With this on her dress she met her beloved,

And this she sew back to his clothes when it was torn off...

The all, from bone or plastic,

Of all colors as life itself is a rainbow,

They all were scattered around in a strange ornament

When the house was hit by a mortar mine.

Oh how they waited to be needed;

How they wanted to be sewn again

And strengthen what should hold together.

But they have holes, like targets have.

And the land is being cut by taylor's scissors,

And they are sewing with terrible needles,

And they are sowing the land with grandfathers' buttons

From all the uniforms that are still fit to wear.

21 May 2015