Valentina Semenenko spent two months sitting by the window of her shattered apartment. Then she wrote this poem and was able to start living again.
To live in peace,
In my own apartment,
In my own home,
Where everyone is familiar,
We are all people,
Happy everywhere
And we will love
our Motherland.
Not just in word,
But also in deed,
So that it blooms,
And we rejoice.
So that the rye
Ripens in the field,
So that we wait for
A better fate,
To return to
Our home
And to live,
To be friends.
So that we don't run away
From home,
So that we become
A united people.
