Galicja, 1915 [Poem]

[roesslyng]

Title: Galicja, 1915
Rating: 0+
Length: 5 lines + Endnotes
Summary: The region of Galicia in southeastern Poland was a site of heavy conflict between the Russians and the Central Powers during the First World War.
Other: My grandmother said very little about the war, but it was enough for a poem.



Galicja, 1915
In memory of K. Z. (1909-2007)



Hide in the fields, she whispered.
They're coming.

Boots marched through your village.

You slipped, ghost-like, through the grain
clutching your sister's hand.

---

My grandmother was a child during the First World War. She didn't talk about it much. She didn't talk about living in Poland much at all. To me, it seems that after coming to Canada in 1930, she wanted everything that she left behind to stay there.

She was born in a region called Galicja, in Poland. It is now part of Ukraine; the Ukrainian name for the region is Halychyna. This area saw heavy fighting during the First war. The Second war was even more devastating to the region. She was fortunate to leave Poland when she did. The relatives she left behind probably did not survive.

"We had to hide in the fields from the Russians". That is one of the few things she said about the war.

Part of me wishes that I had asked about it. But it's probably for the better that I didn't.

Comments

[minutia_r]

Oh wow, this is such a vivid and frightening image in so few words, I am in awe.

(Also, wow, your family must have very long generations. Although actually ... *quick mental calculation* the Mr.'s grandfather fought in WWI and he's about 10 years older than you, so it's about the same. He was born pretty late in his parents' lives though, and so was his dad. This combined with the fact that he was raised in a pretty conservative culture have given him some unusual experiences for someone his age. It is a running joke in our household that he will say "When I was a kid--" and I will fill in "In the 1930s--"

But I'm rambling now.)

[yuuago]

Thank you. <3 I've been researching these events (& others) lately, and the more I do... the more I understand why she didn't want to talk about what happened.

(It's actually not that long - because this is actually my great-grandmother; I've always used the same name for her and my actual grandmother. xD So... long generations, yes, but not THAT long.)

[kiraly]

Oh, this is lovely and sad. I'm always in awe of how you can convey so much emotion with only a few words.

I have some extra feelings about this because my great-grandparents emigrated from Poland too - I can't remember what year, but since my grandfather was born in the U.S. I think it would have been earlier than 1930. It's the same kind of thing, where I don't know a lot about what life was like for them there - my grandpa doesn't talk about his early life much either, and I never got to meet my great-grandparents. So I don't know much about their reasons for leaving, but sometimes I think about them and wonder.

[yuuago]

Thank you! <3 Somehow it's easier to say what I want in a very short way... With longer work, I find it's hard to stop it from becoming a little overwrought.

Ahhh I appreciate that there's someone with a similar situation. All things considered, it was probably a mixture of things... lots of reasons to leave. Do you know what part of Poland your family was from?

[kiraly]

You know, I'm not actually sure? When I did the genealogy project in high school (part of a history class) I wasn't able to find out anything about their lives in Poland, not even their parents' names. But I think my younger brother found some more when he did the project a few years later, so I'll try to remember to ask about it when I go up to visit for the holiday next week.