I Wonder What They Felt

Watching the news nowadays, it can be helpful to remind ourselves that the predicament in which we find ourselves is not new. Last year i jotted down these lines, on how the lines of solidarity and alienation have been a part of modern history:

I wonder what they felt
When the aidworkers were called back
When the diplomatic envoys were evacuated
When they were sharpening their knives, digging up the things they buried in the fields, and saw us leave.

I wonder what they felt.
When the US bombed Vietnam.
When the roles were inverted, and cum-munnus drove those with glasses into the countryside.
And when brother nr. 1 died in ’98.

I wonder what they felt.
When the iron curtain when opened revealed: we are different from each other.
When the Jews of Sarajevo returned the favour from before.
When they marched the boys and the men into the forests.

And I wonder how they must feel.
When the court order was delivered, when the blood of the Arabs ran into the sewers of Gaza.
I wonder what they felt.
Now, many years hence, it has all turned to dust and grass.

Kristoffer Myklebust Roland-Svendsen

2025