“We fled from war,” he said. “My child went ahead, with her mother. I lost contact with them.” “Have they claimed asylum here?” I asked. The interpreter spoke. Their conversation choppy and anxious. I glanced at my colleague and went outside for a smoke. There is a sense that we…

Take a walk through Mariupol Patriarch Kirill. Wave your thurible of benzoin over the corpses, See if that absolves the sins of your parishioners, Or replaces the scent of young flowers Crushed under the rubble of theatres targeted by your rescuers. Replace Russia with Bucha, Then mumble your prayers again …

Together, whatever the circumstances, This is what love means, My friend. No camouflage coat can hide Your heart, Nor advance or defer, your end. We have lost the pavement, But found our path, Amidst the wreckage of another’s rage, And the lack of sense, Or meaning, cannot be absolved, From…

Photographs During War — article after poem. _______________________ — When you are old and silent in your ‘not so easy’ chair, Think of me and how I Loved you, And placed you above and beyond compare. Then perhaps you might forgive me? For not being The man I ought, When you are old and silent, And I am but a thought…