The Florence Letter from Russia
Dear Mum,
This may be my last letter, the letter I should never have written to you.
Mother, I imagine you sitting there in front of the fire waiting for a child
The eldest or the youngest,
If I told you that I am fine and that there are no problems here, I would be lying, dear mother
But I don’t want to make you sad because down there where
You, my loved ones, are, there is certainly no hell
It would be easy, mother, to say I am fine, don’t worry about me, but it’s not true.
I see no way out, we are almost all frozen.
I can no longer feel my feet, I can no longer feel my legs, but my soul is high.
It rises higher and higher above all the ugliness and flies to you. How I would pay, mother, to embrace you one last time, and with you Ave and my unfortunate brothers.
I think of you every moment and I will be with you until the end.
I am leaving, mother, with the knowledge that I have always done my best. I only regret that you will suffer the most, powerless, unable to see and understand my fate and that of your beloved children.
Forgive as I forgive.
I am in communion with you.
Give me your bread.
Share this last farewell with me.
Rest in peace.
My God, as a final gift, grant her peace.