In the Sanatorium by Anya Silver

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend April 8, 2014   In the Sanatorium   Anya Silver

It was after the war. My father lay in an Austrian sanatorium, his lungs full of tuberculosis. Next to him, a young Soviet veteran needed to confess to another Russian. He had done something terrible, he said.   In Kharkov, before the Germans came. Under orders, he had taken enemies of the state, shoved them between two stopped trains, and burned them to death. Then swept away remains.  Could he ever be forgiven for such a sin? How could he know, that tormented man, that my father’s father was one of the dead? What chance that these two men would lie, shushed to sleep by nurses, bed to bed? My father, unable to respond, simply averted his head, refusing to grant comfort. Riven, six more decades, between two ghosts: one wasted from coughing, pale; one burning. Both beyond any word he might have spoken.           Copyright © 2014 by Anya Silver. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   “‘In the Sanatorium’ is based on a true story. While recuperating from tuberculosis, my father was confronted by a man who had in most likelihood been one of the men directly responsible for the political murder of my grandfather during Stalin’s purges.  Until his death, my father regretted not forgiving the man, though I would contend that forgiveness was not truly his to give.” —Anya Silver   Anya Silver’s most recent collection of poems is I Watched You Disappear (Louisiana State University Press, 2014). She teaches at Mercer University and lives in Macon, Georgia, with her husband and son. Most Recent Book by Silver   I Watched You Disappear (Lousiana State University Press, 2014) "Afterwards" by Thomas Hardy "Swarm" by Nick Flynn "War Rug" by Henri Cole Poem-a-Day   This week’s Poem-a-Day is curated by Academy of American Poets Chancellor Edward Hirsch. Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038