The choice

Jaroslaw / Ярослав
Slawko / Славко
Slavik / Славік
Jerry

What is my name?
Whence comes the coursing lifeblood?
Can you “carry the land” for someplace you’ve never lived?
Can a tree draw its nourishment from different soils?

Stephansson sang “I’ve no fatherland”
yet stood tall
in the shadows of both the Alberta foothills and Fagradalsfjall,
his insomnia-driven lays drawing deeply from each

Why do I cry when the missiles rain down on the Ukrainian innocents
(don’t doubt their objective targets)
And yet weep also when mourners
crowd the bridges over the Highway of Heroes?

Which people are my people?
Would I die for either one?
What if I had to choose?
What is my name?