U2 has marked the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with the release of a reading set to a piano piece.
In a post on Instagram, Bono shares that the song and reading of the poem, “My Friendly Epistle” by 19th century poet Taras Shevchenko, is one he and The Edge sent to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy just after the invasion began. He notes that Shevchenko is a poet who “defined ‘Ukrainian-ness’ for so many.”
“All who believe in freedom and sense the jeopardy we Europeans now find ourselves in are not sleeping easily on this, the third anniversary of the invasion,” Bono writes. “More to say about this and other bewilderments later.”
The post includes the entire poem written out. It ends with the line, “Then in your own house you will see True justice, strength, and liberty!”
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