Remembering Hiroshima 70 years on

By admin on August 6, 2015 • ( 0 )

Here is a poem I wrote today as we remember the dropping of nuclear bombs over Japan 70 years ago.
The image shows the commemoration ceremony. The event emphasised the need to decommission the weapons we are still pointing at each other.

70 years : Remembering Hiroshima

It has been 70 years since my friends died
70,000 on day one, followed by another 70,000 on day two when my world fried
My face warped and my right hand melted to form a permanent clasp
I became ugly to myself and later tried to die and die

It is now 70 years on with my age being 88
Why were those who dropped the bomb so full of hate?
Fighting with humanity, displaying no empathy
Pressing the button to drop the bombs with no inner voice saying this is crazy

The madness continued, we built more shells to defend
Now big red buttons are available on all sides to extend
Billion dollar corporations rub their hands with delight that balance death and destruction with the dark knight

We draw cartoons movies for our kids to hide the devastation that took place
It is too distressing say the producers we need to explain what happened with more grace.
You cannot gloss over a death that was so vicious
Flattening neighbourhoods demonstrating a lack of judgement basically being insidious.

The black and white pictures resonate then fade to grey
The videos show survivors picking up the debris from what was left on the day.
Across the pond the ticker tape float and rain down in celebration
Yet the paper is the same sourced from condemnation.

Today…
We stand at the memorial for hope and peace
We need to teach the world to not rinse and repeat
We stand at the memorial with desires to decommission
To switch of the bombs we need no permission