By Olena Stepova, Luhansk blogger
07.21.2014
Translated and edited by Voices of Ukraine

In fire-breathing Luhansk, there is so much real and genuine love. Some couples stayed when one of them had the chance to leave, but they decided to stay with their loved ones, “in sorrow and in joy.”

Adult children stayed to support their sick parents, telling them, “hold on, we are with you, just hold on!”

Old people stayed here, prepared to hang on to their native ground by their teeth and if they had to die, they would do so here, the best place for their sun to rise and for it to set.

The eccentrics in love with their own affairs have stayed on, they do not conceive of themselves being in another place or having a different lifestyle.

I would not ask anyone to undergo this experience. It is not rational. Just know that in this city there is a lot of love. Love is now proving itself with feelings like, “I will always be with you, even if war knocks on our door, I will not leave or betray you.” “You don’t leave the ones you love.” Peace on us all. Peace on those in love. Peace on Luhansk, Donetsk, all Ukraine and the whole world. That’s a post by Yana Yaroshuk. The beginning of the post is not mine. It is Yana Yaroshuk’s status. It is Luhansk. It cries, I cry with it. We love and cry together! I want you to see the LOVE of those living in Luhansk!

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Photo source: Travis J. Burke
http://thebigwild.wordpress.com/2014/04/18/dealing-with-the-donbass/

When the war is over we will publish many books about the experiences of these days: the books will have the bitterness of truth and an aching sense of betrayal, cruel facts and raw feelings, but the most important thing will be the resonant, rejoicing and redeeming voice of Love! My Luhanshchyna [region of Luhansk] will be there! My Donbas! Somewhere not very far from me, burn Luhansk, Lisichansk, Rubezhnoe, Severodonetsk, Popasnaya, Donetsk; my land is burning, either dying or being purified. We are paying this reckoning not for a betrayal. We are grieving and suffering along with it! Soulful attachment and a falling in love grow, seeing in our region the silky feather grass and rough earth, incomprehensible to reason, reason doesn’t understand the cloud creeping over our land, we protect our country, ourselves, Ukraine, with LOVE! I believe that Ukraine will rise from the ashes like a phoenix, will get stronger, will be saved in the fire and I believe that Love for our Country, the Earth, God, Humanity will win! Those who are purified by this can save the world! Because they recognized Love!

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one can drown in eyes –

as if in a lake.

to touch the lips –

is to come into despair.

love is that – which shrinks the mimosa [tree]

from words that are icy, sharp, involuntary.

fly down, butterfly

to burn

in the heart of the flame,

burn in the fire’s mirage.

love is what the blind can see

within the soul, feeling the separation.

sliding over you

with a swan’s feather.

sliding,

with an understanding of destiny.

love is that which one drinks to the last drop

and smashes the crystal glass against the earth.

Source: Olena Stepova FB