The Gardener: Saltivka, Kharkiv Oblast
After the invaders were pushed back,
residents returned: a trickle.
Some buildings: repaired, reinhabited;
the bombed apartment tower torn down.
Shops reopened. On the streets
car, bus, bicycle traffic: as before.
Then the bombings began again;
the neighborhood emptied, again.
Except her: she never abandoned
her shell-pocked home.
Her son is at the front.
Now the only resident of her block,
she tends her garden,
the one she’s kept for 30 years:
her hands weeding,
spade and pitchfork turning earth—
in the bomb craters
she plants new flowers.
All around: destruction;
in her apartment, order:
Czech crystal displayed
on top of her dresser.
“I have organized everything,”
she says, “according to my plans:”
“only the war is out of my control.”