For Susanne
FOR SUSANNE
I came in search of skill and I found virtue
In your climb up the stairs you were neat and clear
Making no excuse for the way he hurt you
But you cling to reality with a straight and peer-
Less eye. On lined paper you have set your mark
What could you deviate from, if not from right
And knowing you is quite enough to park
Truth on the lines, the tine your birthright.
In this dark house Jews lived and hoped and dreamed
Of a land where their strangeness was a claim
To universal justice. How in the dark they teemed
Until hope ran like melted butter on the name
They must excise. Born in a country that did them wrong
You forbid yourself the luxury of song.
(c) Rosemarie Rowley
From IN MEMORY OF HER
(2008)
Copyright © Rosemarie Rowley | Year Posted 2014
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