Requiem for MH-17
"Requiem for MH-17" is a poem by Russian poet , widely known by his pen name Orlusha. The poem is a reaction to the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in Ukraine on July 17, 2014.
In the poem, the speaker declares that he, as an ethnic Russian and a Russian citizen, is "one of those" responsible for shooting down the airliner. He is "of one nation" with those he believes to be guilty of shooting it down, and he imagines himself literally with them during the launching of the missile. The speaker also accuses those who aided militants in Eastern Ukraine in various ways—with inspiring words, with arms, with propaganda, or with support on social media—of being among the shooters. Throughout, the poem contemplates various aspects of the immediate aftermath of the crash: the evidence found among the debris of normal lives interrupted—passports, slippers, hats; the bodies of the victims remaining as "prisoners" of the militias controlling the area around the crash site. Finally, in the last lines, the speaker declares that though investigations will eventually establish the facts, he is ready to confess on behalf of his countrymen; he is guilty simply because he is a Russian.
The poem was read on the Echo of Moscow radio station by actress Liya Akhedzhakova, discussed in the Russian and Ukrainian news media, and has been translated into English, Spanish, and French. It has been discussed on the Internet, generating sharply divided response.
In the poem, the speaker declares that he, as an ethnic Russian and a Russian citizen, is "one of those" responsible for shooting down the airliner. He is "of one nation" with those he believes to be guilty of shooting it down, and he imagines himself literally with them during the launching of the missile. The speaker also accuses those who aided militants in Eastern Ukraine in various ways—with inspiring words, with arms, with propaganda, or with support on social media—of being among the shooters. Throughout, the poem contemplates various aspects of the immediate aftermath of the crash: the evidence found among the debris of normal lives interrupted—passports, slippers, hats; the bodies of the victims remaining as "prisoners" of the militias controlling the area around the crash site. Finally, in the last lines, the speaker declares that though investigations will eventually establish the facts, he is ready to confess on behalf of his countrymen; he is guilty simply because he is a Russian.
The poem was read on the Echo of Moscow radio station by actress Liya Akhedzhakova, discussed in the Russian and Ukrainian news media, and has been translated into English, Spanish, and French. It has been discussed on the Internet, generating sharply divided response.
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