Defenceless under the night
Our world in stupor lies;
Yet, dotted everywhere,
Ironic points of light
Flash out wherever the Just
Exchange their messages:
May I, composed like them
Of Eros and of dust,
Beleaguered by the same
Negation and despair,
Show an affirming flame.

September 1, 1939
WH Auden

I have a difficult time coming to terms with a single life extinguished in this senseless manner, much less 170, counting. I understand the human need to express, to say something, to give shape to grief, but for me the first response to such suffering, is a resonant silence.

I believe that elegy needs to fumble its way toward what sense it can make, and that meaning wrested out of struggle, of not knowing how to cope, is the only kind worth making. November 26, 2008

Aditi Singh has an MFA from the University of Pennsylvania. Recent and upcoming exhibitions include Emotional drawing, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 2008, Stand Still Like a Hummingbird, Chemould Prescott Road , Mumbai, 2008. After living in New York City, she has recently relocated to Mumbai, India.

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