AT THE UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

1.         

Getting off the crowded elevator at the top floor,

our group just about to start the tour

in the dark, narrow hallway,

the narrow darkness which will follow us for three hours,

a tall woman in sandals and shorts says,

Are we supposed to look at both sides at once?


2.       

Three hours later, on the street in front of the entrance,

the summer sun so bright it is painful, a little girl,

not more than eight or nine, on a class trip, says,

They were very bad people weren’t they

for God to punish them like that?

3.

That evening after dinner and a walk around

the Reflecting Pool, on the train going to the hotel,

I answer, Yes, if you don’t look at both sides at once

you will miss all the evil in the world.

I answer, No, they were not very bad people,

it was God who was very bad, he did not look at both sides at once,

he missed all the evil in the world.