A Peace Poem by Sadako Kurihara
I would be a witness for Hiroshima by Sadako Kurihara I wish, as a survivor, To be a real human being; Besides, as a poor mother, Fearing a day when the blue sky Above the red- cheeked children And those thousands with promising futures And now, to be repeated at the nation's cost, I resolved to shed tears supposed to be shed on dead bodies, Afresh for those people living now, Declaring against all war, first of all. Even if I should perchance be punished under a disgraceful name From a mother's protest against death for her own son's sake, I should never dare to hide myself, never! Because the day was too much impressed on my retina, the hellish day of the fatal blaze. It was August 6th in 1945, At an early hour of the day; Men and women were to start their daily work, When unexpectedly The city and all were blown away; Blistered hideously, each and all; The seven rivers were filled with naked corpse. Supposing there is a tale of the inferno Wh...