Crutch

‘In the trenches, there are no atheists’

He stood silently for a moment, leaning on his metal crutches before the icon of the Virgin Mary. Then, with reverence, he placed his crutches down, as a soldier would lay down his weapon, and lay face down to pray. He did not kneel, as is customary among the faithful, because he was missing one leg - he had been severely injured in a trench somewhere in eastern Ukraine.