To My Former Student Who Joined the Foreign Legion to Fight in Ukraine

CARLENE GADAPEE

I wish I could ask your younger sister how you are

but I know her tears would burn me like acid

and I know your family disapproves of my support—

they made sure to tell me that you’d failed twice,

once in the Marines and once again in the Army—

they say you washed out, regardless of your story.

You did not have to tell me; your heart was always set

on righting wrongs in a way that felt honorable,

you would help to set something straight in a world

that has so little honour, so little that is right.

You should be playing your guitar on a river bank

in the New Hampshire backwoods, riffing with birds

and butterflies, soaking in sunlight and soft breezes.

You have a huge heart, my friend. I’m pleased to call

you friend. I understand that you hurt when the weak

are attacked. This vagabond pull that makes it hard

to stay rooted must come from something deeper

than chasing adults’ broken dreams. You have gathered

supplies and weapons. Maybe this is a grand adventure,

maybe it is a mission you could not refuse. I can’t believe

you see it as another type of video game as your family

suggests. Your heart is torn by injustice, and you want to help

the hurting people. Maybe that’s it. Your hurt heart could not

rest when others need you. Slava Ukraini. Godspeed.

Author Bio:

Carlene M. Gadapee lives in northern New Hampshire where she teaches English and is the Associate Creative Director for The Frost Place Studio Sessions. Her work has been published by Waterwheel Review, Smoky Quartz, Margate Bookie, bloodroot, Wild Words, and elsewhere. Carlene resides with her husband in Littleton.

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