Chernobyl—still The Same Poem by Walterrean Salley

Pickled peppers on the shelf.
Books and toys on table.
Years have brought change,
But not at Chernobyl.

Gas masks the table sprawl.
Lenin’s picture on the wall.
Tourists stop to pay a call.
The site is open unto all.

Ferris wheel.
Merry-go-round.
Bumper cars
On playground.

In twenty-five years
Nothing’s changed.
Old Chernobyl’s
Still the same.

A place forlorn,
Where history chimes
Of misfortune,
Is frozen in time.
©