Yes I am lying in the ground 

But my lips are moving 

Who said that Joe 

The poet Osip Mandelstam 

He was one of the first Russian poets I read after Pushkin 

Like many other writers he incurred the wrath of Stalin 

It did not help that he wrote 

His cockroach moustache laughs 

Perching on his top lip 

I cannot recommend him highly enough 

You are a great admirer of Russian poetry 

That is because I often find Russia a tragic country 

Even now and yet again it is being run by a mad man

A war is taking place and thousands of innocent lives 

Are being lost on both sides 

I wonder how many Russian and Ukrainian voices 

Have been extinguished and now lie silent 

In known and unknown graves .

When this terror ends 

Will these voices again be heard 

I sincerely hope they are 

Some people say to me that 

War poetry is no longer written 

I always correct them 

As war poetry will always be written 

In times of conflict 

Would you ever write war poetry Joe 

I have since my pen was very young