before the war
she shaped clay into vessels,
taught the motion of falling
that does not break—
aikido,
discipline of balance,
breath before impact.
when the square filled with orange and smoke
she bound the torn and trembling,
hands without armour,
eyes without rest.
as the east burned again, stolen from its sleep
she built an army of angels—
not of fire,
but of gauze and morphine.
their creed was simple:
the wounded breathe,
and so must we.
in Mariupol
the air turned to ash,
the sea closed its mouth.
she filmed what light remained,
two hundred gigabytes of witness,
a whole city hidden
in a camera’s blink.
the truth passed through checkpoints
wrapped in a tampon,
small and invincible.
the next day
they took her.
a soldier spoke her name
as if it were a crime.
and she disappeared
into the concrete throat
of the occupied south.
three months without sky.
they fed her from a bucket,
told her she was nothing but char,
forced her to listen
to the orchestra of pain
behind the walls.
she learned the rhythm
of someone breaking—
and not yet broken.
they said: confess.
she said nothing.
the silence held.
when she returned
she carried her name
like a bandage soaked in sun.
she told the world:
truth was beaten,
but did not die.
she asked for weapons,
for witnesses,
for eyes that do not look away.
she called the prisons by their names,
called the torturers by theirs,
and still thanked the strangers
who listened.
now she walks again,
hips of titanium,
heart of tempered air.
where she stands,
earth remembers
how to breathe.
Audio – Taira’s Testimony
Taira’s Testimony – Author’s Note:
Yuliia “Taira” Paievska is a Ukrainian volunteer medic, aikido instructor and founder of the “Taira’s Angels” paramedic corps, who served on Ukraine’s front lines from 2013 onwards. Her dramatic footage from the besieged city of Mariupol, smuggled out in March 2022 and reported in The Guardian (19 June 2022), helped document the horrors of that siege. Captured by Russian forces for three months and later released, she testified in Washington before the U.S. Helsinki Commission about her ordeal and the unlawful detention of Ukrainians.
“Square filled with orange and smoke”: Refers to Kyiv’s Maidan Nezalezhnosti during the Revolution of Dignity (November 2013 – February 2014), when Ukrainians rose against corruption and Russian influence, the Orange Revolution and the enduring civic resistance.
“The east burned”: Refers to the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine from 24 February 2022, when Russian forces attacked from multiple directions, reigniting the war in the east.
“Mariupol”: The port city on the Sea of Azov, besieged by Russian forces from 24 February to 20 May 2022. The prolonged assault destroyed most of the city and killed thousands, making Mariupol a symbol of Ukrainian courage and loss.
“Occupied south”: Refers to the Russian-controlled territories south of Mariupol, including parts of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, where Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war were detained or deported.
Return to the Beginning of the Poem
Go to the following poem in the collection: “The Space Between Time“