Seeds

Ronald Araña Atilano

One Ukrainian woman [was] taunting a Russian soldier by telling him to put sunflower seeds in his pocket, so that when he died in Ukraine, flowers would grow.

—Maria Varenikova, The New York Times, 27 February 2022

And when that hour comes for you,

lost soldier, when you inevitably fall

amongst these bombed ruins,

snow slowly covering your face and your eyes,

you’ll understand that anyone

who lies down to die

leaves one or other object behind:

the lover and the torn letter,

the moneylender’s purse of silver,

the commissar’s revolver.

Coins, a pen, a knife, a faded receipt—

you’ll realise that all along you’ve carried

your conscience, your allegiances,

in your pockets, all the debris

from your short walk on earth. When the ice melts,

the beheaded stems will grow again;

sunflower buds will gently shoot up

from your damp trousers, your frayed fatigues,

your cracked boots, your intestines.

And in that fateful hour, lost soldier,

as if by design, you will become

the sower from the Lord’s parable,

he who did not scatter his seeds

by a roadside or rocky path, but left them to thrive

on good soil,

nourished by compost,

generous and life-giving, softly saying

This is my body

to the blossoming fields

of this land you used to call your enemy.

RONALD ARAÑA ATILANO is a Filipino-born poet who lives in Awabakal land in Lake Macquarie, New South Wales. His works have been published in Rabbit Poetry Journal, Westerly Magazine, Jacaranda Journal, the Booranga Writers Centre’s fourW anthology and Spineless Wonders’ ‘Remnants’ Microlit anthology. His poem ‘The Fugitive’ was highly commended in the 2023 Hammond House International Literary Prize.