FORGIVENESS

by Marguerite Guzmán Bouvard

            in memory of Eva Kor

Sagittarius A, that astronomers

describe as a gravitational monster

pulled in passing stars in its

cosmic dance. Yet some stars manage

to survive the gravitational dance

of a black hole. Like Eva Kor

who survived Auschwitz because

she and her sister were treated

as guinea pigs by Dr. Mengele

who carried out his medical experiments

to create an Aryan master race.

She responded to the horrors by preaching

the power of forgiveness, persuading

a former physician at Auschwitz

to sign a document acknowledging

the gas chamber. Afterwards, Eva

wrote him a letter expressing her belief

in forgiving tormentors, as a thank you

for his gesture, that lifted

her burden of pain. We don't need

houses of worship to feel close

to the Creator, or astronomers

to explain the human cosmos,

but to face evil, the lust for power,

a hatred for others, and to respond

with a luminous soul rising

above the gravitational dance

of dark and light.

* * * * *

Marguerite Guzmán Bouvard (http://www.margueritegbouvard.com/) is the author of ten poetry books, two of which have won awards, including the MassBook Award for Poetry. She has also written many non-fiction books on women's rights, social justice, grief, illness, and The Invisible Wounds of War: Coming Home from Iraq and Afghanistan. She is a former professor of Political Science and Poetry, a former Resident scholar at Women's Studies Research Center and Environmental Studies at Brandeis University.