Where Are They Now

 

In 1967 I hitch-hiked to Belgrade.

My friend and I would take an overnight train

to stay with our Albanian friends

in what is now Kosovo.

Until then we had some hours to kill.

The local cafe culture called

and we ate a modest meal,

two great slabs

of the ubiquitous cheese puff pastry

washed down with colas.

We went to the counter to pay

but the Server refused our money.

He pointed to a table where some guys

were enjoying a few beers.

They had already paid, he said.

We were mystified.

They had made no contact with us

and we tried to tell them we could not accept.

They explained that

they wished to thank us

for the help Britain had given in WW2.

Fast forward to 1999

when the right to self-determination was all the rage.

and NATO bombs were falling on Belgrade.

I thought about them a lot back then.

I think of them now.

And I still have my friend in Kosovo.

Sometimes we feel human,

sometimes not.

About the Poem

In the midst of a terrible war between Russia and Ukraine, I was thinking back to other conflicts and changing attitudes to them.

About the Author

Lynn White lives in north Wales. Her work is influenced by issues of social justice and events, places and people she has known or imagined. She is especially interested in exploring the boundaries of dream, fantasy and reality. She was shortlisted in the Theatre Cloud ‘War Poetry for Today’ competition and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net and a Rhysling Award. Find Lynn at: https://lynnwhitepoetry.blogspot.com/

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