In Pain With Ukraine

jhaffur khan azad darakth (piano, bansuri, voice) and Joel Banner Baird (guitar) present: In pain with Ukraine Incandescent lies light sky with ghostly flares we used to just exclaim and call them shooting stars Portents of dictatorships that still don’t seem to care Fabricating claims of faded glory lost, re-booting wars. Distant pain so much more easily deferred Sanctioning a careful removal from the zones of harm Collateral was the term euphemistically preferred Let the tanks roll on, the distant glow won’t keep us warm. Bizarrely the demented mind now holds the power Sanity and humility crush with the weight of reason Real people and their children currently cower But the options are not clear in this false season. What then of lines at borders all of us are crossing What is the visa that redeems but won’t destroy us Futures past and present bid us put peaceful cautions Root causes and frontiers somehow let hate deploy us. Moments of illumination clouded, too much feels the same What inner forces can be mustered to give hope its fire What shooting stars can turn the rockets anger into shame What will replace this endless quest to claim what we desire. jhaffur khan azad darakth - in pain with Ukraine, 2022