Going Home

by Victoria Becker

This poignant verse comes from "Домой" ("Home"), a Russian song dedicated to Hamas hostages returning to their homes in Israel.

HOME

What does this word mean to those who’ve walked through hell’s embrace?

Who, with gritted teeth, refuse to shield their gaze

From the helpless throng’s despairing face?

Home. Yet dreams still cling, unyielding, slow to fade,

Trapped within bleak walls, a prisoner’s charade—

The stench of rat-born terror fills the air,

A sea of blood, and scenes too cruel to bear.

Home, to woods where wounded families abide,

Where shadows drift through slick and darkened tides.

Will time bring balm to ease their silent cries?

They live, yet changed—unrecognizable guise.

Stronger now, their spirits forged in flame,

Though pain no smile can ever hope to tame.

In basements deep, their universe was torn away,

Yet none could bend their will or force their sway.

Oh, to scream this strength to a world gone blind,

A world deafened, slumbering, left behind!

While hollow faces of the jailers glare,

Filling screens with depths beyond repair.

A fire smolders—grief and vengeance blend,

A thirst to repay each fiend without end,

Those who, through ages, see us as mere prey.

Home? Yes, home—through torment’s endless fray.