TEN YEARS AFTER CHORNOBYL

(After watching a documentary about residents near Chornobyl.)


1.
We came here from Poland.
There were houses with furniture
and everything still in them.
We just moved in -
nobody tried to stop us.
We work at the plant, it's close by.
We've never had it so good.
The pollution doesn't bother us -
men in masks sprayed it away.

2.
The gardens here are beautiful.
How can we be afraid of something
we can't see, smell, taste, hear or feel?
I see the sun and the fields
And they make me happy.

3.
I was born here.
I'm old and sick now
but I don't want to go
to a strange place to die.

4.
We came from a war zone.
It's green and peaceful here.
When our children go to school
we know they'll come home.
Radiation is not a bullet.

5.
It's true there are no shops here
but we are used to it.
We may as well live while we can
and die happy.

6.
I'm not frightened of nuclear power.
Vodka cures radiation.
In fact, vodka cures everything,
even life.

7.
My husband talks of rumours
that over 10,000 people have died
because of the accident
but it's comforting to know
the official toll is still 31.


Myron Lysenko, from I'm Ukrainian, Mate.
(c)2002