February 28-March 3, 2026
Once again, the Holy Lenten Season begins with wars.
We wake up hearing demented shrieks, seeing gun-powder hoars
On our living room screens. We rub our eyes at the news
Of innocent girls blasted as they gathered inside their schools.
Lives are cut short by fools, across this holy world of ours.
But the murdered girls are mentioned as “also in the news,”
The headlines brag about epic furies and surprise killings
The announcer says “the school was close to military targets”
Once again, the Holy Lenten Season begins with wars.
Snowdrops in February once again die in the Great Lent week,
Death visits us again in the Holy Season of this year.
How we choose to pray by killing and by dying!
How we trick ourselves into thinking it’s not worth trying
To live and let live, to hope and let hope!
Once again, the Holy Lenten Season begins with wars.
Carmen Bugan’s latest collection is Tristia (Shearsman Books). Her memoir Burying the Typewriter will be republished as a Picador Modern Classic in June.
Once again, the Holy Lenten Season begins with wars.
We wake up hearing demented shrieks, seeing gun-powder hoars
On our living room screens. We rub our eyes at the news
Of innocent girls blasted as they gathered inside their schools.
Lives are cut short by fools, across this holy world of ours.
But the murdered girls are mentioned as “also in the news,”
The headlines brag about epic furies and surprise killings
The announcer says “the school was close to military targets”
Once again, the Holy Lenten Season begins with wars.
Snowdrops in February once again die in the Great Lent week,
Death visits us again in the Holy Season of this year.
How we choose to pray by killing and by dying!
How we trick ourselves into thinking it’s not worth trying
To live and let live, to hope and let hope!
Once again, the Holy Lenten Season begins with wars.
Carmen Bugan’s latest collection is Tristia (Shearsman Books). Her memoir Burying the Typewriter will be republished as a Picador Modern Classic in June.
