Christmas in Cracow
In the calls of lost children
I hear the shepherds' song growing louder.
A carol leading to the manger and cradle
from which you will guide our tormented hearts.
Alek Rybczynski, CFP's Poland Reporter ——Bio and Archives--January 5, 2025
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Lord, I have returned to my city
cast onto the edge of the platform.
I struggle to catch my breath, the air is thick with lies
with silenced facts and radio announcers' prattle.
Time stops in my lungs
I drag my feet with difficulty.
As if the city were stuck in Europe's trenches
nameless, exposed to fire and sale.
The megaphone's voice led me, rasping as it used to
when we were still sensitive to falsehood and threats.
Lord, they said you would be born nearby and heal the souls
which we would follow once the cataract falls from our eyes.
I will walk the streets of my city as always
listening for the baby's whimper.
Peering into churches where I'll no longer find solace
for the priests turn away from truth.
I will ride number 24 streetcar around the Planty
look at the Market Square with Europe's most beautiful Christmas tree.
Mickiewicz monument on guard beneath furled Polish flags
I hear only the occupiers' songs and the market's bustle.
Where the poor and abandoned
will not be fed.
there will be Christmas Eve for the lonely
where we'll all meet.
And swallowing borscht with dumplings
we won't be able to look each other in the eye.
I will walk among you carrying on conversation
but understanding has become impossible.
We've focused too much on the past
and on Potemkin landscapes.
The birds' singing has gone quiet
only the city's hum can be heard.
Above which spreads a dome
of rockets and combat aircraft.
I will walk your streets recognizing
the slammed-shut windows of familiar tenements.
Crossing parks where we once plotted
getting ready for uprising.
Lord, they say you will be born soon
already the star shines above the Mariacki Tower.
But for now I descend from platform two
among similarly lost passengers.
Hurrying toward an imagined destination
as if it were a desert without mirage or spring.
Lord, I walk deliriously, evil has nested in my lungs
wise men no longer lead to you.
But it's right here in the echo
of trains announced for the front.
In the calls of lost children
I hear the shepherds' song growing louder.
A carol leading to the manger and cradle
from which you will guide our tormented hearts.
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I am a Polish Canadian poet, writer, journalist, editor and videographer. I have published many poetry books, and received prestigious awards, including best poetry book debut in Poland. In Canada, I published the literary and arts magazine “Oceanic Letter” for almost ten years. Now I am publisher and editor-in-chief of the online magazine Polska Canada. I interviewed Nobel Prize winner Joseph Brodsky, Canadian composer Marjan Mozetich and many others. My journalism is devoted to subjects silenced in the mainstream media. I have written articles on Freedom Convoy for readers in Poland, and I am publishing summaries of uncovered news which matters to our freedoms and fight against a liberal, globalist agenda and political correctness narrative. In 2018 together with Canadians Captains Barry and Matt Sheehy and Paul Sheehy I went to Poland, invited by Polish Government officials, to honour Polish and Canadian soldiers, who fought in WWII. I have made a video, documenting the trip.
Right now I am in Poland for personal reasons, but also to cover the dangerous pro-war propaganda and Poland’s involvement in the conflict in Ukraine. I would love to contribute to Canadian independent media coverage of the complex situation in Europe, and share my experiences with my fellow Canadians. I am thinking of short video presentations and brief articles, written from the point of view of a Polish Canadian, who has roots in European culture.
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