Anti-War Haiku Wall

Alenka Zorman (Slovenia)

once soldiers....
now up in the red sunset
their tombstones

wading through
dandelions in bloom.....
a mine

My father, a teacher, was arrested by Germans during the 2nd World War in Begunje arrest (Slovenia). Many people died there. He wrote plenty of war poems, some of them were included in his book of poetry (published 1975).

"Why our hearts don't sing"
(Begunje arrest, 1941)

Why our hearts don't sing?
We are arrested
behind the heavy doors,
behind black wire fences
obscuring our sights?

Why our hearts don't sing?
A black shadow of death
comes more and more close
and pierces us through
as a sharp bayonet!

"I am - and I suffer"
(Begunje arrest, 1941)

I am - and I suffer
sunk deep
in the wrinkles of silence.
In the cracks of time
there is an evil.

Deep suffering
behind the prison fences.
Outside nothing but
the thunder of weapons,
the horror, the struggle
and death.

I am - and I suffer
under the layers of years,
not having the strength
to change the world.

In torment
the face of freedom rises -
the most beautiful flower!

Ivan Dodic
(1907-1981)

Translated by Alenka Zorman