Author: Marian St. Onge
Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts

Marian Brown St. Onge retired recently from her position as founding Director of Boston College’s Center for International Partnerships and Programs. She received her Ph.D. in French Literature from Boston College where, before CIPP, she developed curricula in French language and culture and directed BC’s Women's Studies Program. A former President of the Massachusetts Foreign Language Association, St. Onge has received fellowships from the NEH, Ford Foundation, and Fulbright. In spring 2006, she was Michael Dukakis' Visiting Professor in International Affairs at the American College, Thessaloniki, Greece. St. Onge has published travelers’ guides, articles on women writers, cultural issues, and topics in international education.

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Leaving Sarajevo (June, 1996)

On the road to Zagreb,
across blown-up bridges with new iron braces,
women saunter along in bright summer dresses.

Overhead,
I catch sight of a bird in flight
—still as a star.

But the man beside me in the bus
is weeping.

I’ve been remembering a soft-eyed Sarajevo scholar,
who said of the future
—I am tragically optimistic.

                   in memory of Kemal Bakarsic

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