Only fifteen minutes
since
the “All Clear” sounded,
awaking those
who found small sleep,
interrupted thrice the night before
by air-raid alarms;
Humidity intensifies
high summer heat
in the city
of seven rivers...
Hurrying to market,
to business, to school,
startled
as a sheet of sun,
in tremendous flash,
silently cuts across sky ~
An instant’s stunned amaze,
then vaporized
or pressure blasted
from the bridge;
body but briefly blocking
pavement below from burning flash.
Lingering images:
a man with donkey
and cart,
walkers wearing sugegasa,
a head bowed with
contemplation or age;
vanished forever
from our knowledge,
traces tramped with
weary wheels and
tired tread,
droplets
in a sea of loss...
Who will light
a paper lantern
for you?
Author notes
sugegasa: simple conical straw hat, also called a rice hat or paddy hat.
note: apparently there was no sound heard with the flash by those who were within a mile or two of ground zero, but very loud sound heard by those farther removed (book “Hiroshima” by John Hersey)
Toro Nagashi (Floating Paper Lantern Ceremony), is a ceremony at the end of the Bon season (a Buddhist event held during the middle of August to pay respects to ancestors) where lanterns are floated on rivers or the sea to convey the souls of ancestors, who are said to visit during Bon, to the other world. In Hiroshima, the ceremony is performed to console the souls of the atomic bomb victims each August 6th, upon the rivers of the city.
http://www.hiroshimamusic.com/sevenriver.html
A contest entry
- History Relived by Note The Sarcasm.
1050 points, ended June 14, 2008, 11 entries
Honorable mention
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Please tell me what you think
Comments
1 - 6 of 6
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The imagery floods over me as I read...
Insightful questioning is felt even though
the words written seem more observation than
a searching. It leaves an impact as the language
seeps in revealing much deeper thought than
what is expressed in word count. So much of this
can be fitted to life in any period: past, present
or future. Complacency, assurance from the powers
that be that our daily routines can continue, shock
and silence. These tragedies can never be truly felt
through images on a screen or pages in a book. Blue
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Thank you, Blue, for your thoughtful insights. Particularly meaningful for me were "Complacency, assurance from the powers that be that our daily routines can continue, shock and silence." Indeed, tragedy may stand quietly at our side, swamping the hopes of another soul, and we may not realize it by failing to observe cues we recognize as indicative of distress.
I think described or depicted tragedies may be felt to the degree that a person has acquaintance with loss and distress, or a frame of reference in which to mount such perceptions. Knowing the distress of great personal loss in the form of some few individuals, I do not think it possible for me to appreciate the magnitude of loss of such massive proportions as war-torn centers of population have undergone. I believe my mind would simply shut down large-scale perceptions in order to focus on dealing with those things within my power in a smaller scope.
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Very moving poem. I like the historical background woven into this poem of strong imagery. I especially like the lines:
vanished forever
from our knowledge,
traces tramped with
weary wheels and
tired tread,
droplets
in a sea of loss...
Who will light
a paper lantern
for you?
I refrained from copying the entire poem.
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That was a beautiful poem! Even without prior knowledge of the Bon ceremony, the last section of the poem is deeply poignant.
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Very impressive write ...
about a very serious situation.
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This was really interesting. Thanks for entering. I enjoyed reading this and learning new things. I liked the details in this. Great job.
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