Lilika Nakos: “Surely God didn’t intend this butchery”

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Anti-war essays, poems, short stories and literary excerpts

Women writers on peace and war

Lilika Nakos: Selections on war

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Lilika Nakos
From The Children’s Inferno (1946)
Translated by Allan Ross Macdougall

“‘I’ve lived my life, Kyra Argyros. The children have got to live theirs.’

“‘You’ve got to live your life, too. My man was saying that just by living and letting others see you does them good. They understand that goodness isn’t dead on earth.’

“‘Be quiet, Kyra Argyros, you’re exaggerating. I wish I had lots to give, something to everybody. To be kind only requires a little will, just a little, then goodness comes of itself.’

“‘That’s true! but men don’t want to be kind,’ said the neighbor. ‘Look how they’re killing one another, bringing Hell on earth. They drag young men from their mothers’ arms and send them into the butchery. When I get to thinking of all the poor mothers all over the world, I weep; I weep. I don’t think the world’s badly planned, for surely God didn’t intend this butchery.'”