After Auschwitz

R's Poetry Challenge was emotionally exhausting for me. Infatuated? Whew. I don't like that word. So I wanted to type up something a bit more uplifting.
There's a poem I've been reading lately that really moves me. It's a bit long so I'll just share with you my favorite part.
It's called "After Auschwitz" and it's written by C.K. Williams.

...I thought
of Primo Levi, reciting

Dante to the all but dead,
then I don't know why,
of the Jewish woman, Masha,
of whom Levi tells
how, when she'd escaped,
been informed on, caught,

and now was to be hanged
before the other prisoners,
someone called out to her,
"Masha, are you all right?"
and she'd answered, answered, answered,
"I'm always all right."

I tend to think of Masha as being straightforward and pleasant, not cynical and ironic. In my mind, she says I'm always all right not because she's bitter, but because she's at peace.