THE WARTIME ISSUE Linda Pastan   WHAT WE ARE CAPABLE OF                           On Reading of Prisoner Abuse at Abu Ghraib What we are capable of is always astonishing, though never quite a surprise. "Astronomers find more evidence of dark matter," the newspaper says on the next page—a fact or metaphor? I think of those villagers in France who risked their only lives to save a handful of Jews, and I try to find from that fading chink of light an incandescent path through all these darknesses.     Linda Pastan's 12th book, in which this poem will appear, is called Queen of a Rainy Country and is due from Norton in October.   Published in Volume 7, Number 2, Spring 2006.   To read more by this author: Linda Pastan: The Whitman Issue Linda Pastan Linda Pastan: DC Places Issue Linda Pastan: Evolving City Issue Linda Pastan: Museum Issue