And then there was Raisa

The news this week of Mikhail Gorbachev's death reminded me of a poem I wrote 23 years ago when his wife died (Raisa had been diagnosed with leukemia). The news report that she died in Germany with her husband and daughter by her side was a moving image for me, seeing their humanity and also thinking of the hope for a new world that I had a glimpse of at the time.

For Raisa Gorbachev
 
In a hospital room in Germany
She quietly slips away
As a human life is distilled to its essence.
 
Working with her best friend and husband
In her remarkable life,
She assisted a man with such power and insight
That they were able to dismantle the system
As Christ dismantled his own need for survival.
 
New avenues were sought
Amidst times of intense activity and intrigue.
In swirling eddies of Old Guard retribution,
Fragile hopes and possibilities kept their foothold.
She confused all sides with her confidence in life.
 
In quieter times as she lay dying
Humanity is distilled to its essence
As devoted husband and daughter
Wait by her side
Exemplifying tenacious affirmation
Of love and connection
Which extends to all boundaries of human existence.
 
9/99                                                                    ~ CK

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For a deeper look at Mr. Gorbachev and Raisa, see Steve Rosenberg's article Mikhail Gorbachev: Remembering a warm-hearted and generous man.  “…he came across as a warm-hearted, decent man, who was still deeply in love with his wife and desperately sad that she had gone. Raisa was everywhere: in his books, in framed portraits on his office wall... and in the music.”

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