An angel appears.
I ask her to expand
my empathy.
An eye’s blink,
I am engulfed in
swirling images:
The Inquisition.
The World Wars.
Auschwitz.
The Nanking Massacre.
A hammer slams
into my heart.
Heat melts me
from within.
I wake up soaked in sweat.
My heart pounds.
I need an antidote.
How do I hold such agony?
I ask the angel to return me to sleep.
Afloat in a dreamy field
of iridescent orange and purple poppies,
in a panorama of
splendor and radiance,
I am infused with
beauty and love.
Horrific images
return and interweave,
exacerbated by
wailing,
shrieking,
cursing—
reaching the sky.
All of a sudden,
my perception
conflates into a
harmonious tapestry,
rustling on the waves
of a symphonic melody.
Painting by Olena Zavakevych
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