Black Rain

Cherry

By Silver Spun Sand

Thu, 06 Aug 2015
  • 2314 reads
14 comments
 
6th August, 1945;
Dig out my blouse – find my tie –
Put last night’s homework
In my satchel
 
Glance out the window
Then the sky turns red
A blinding light
A white light
Roof tiles falling
All around
 
I float through the air...
Like a spaceman might
The world turns upside down
 
Day becomes night, 
As if the sun’s 
Fallen from the sky
Darkness – nothingness 
No sound except the wind
 
Then a noise like mosquitoes
A buzzing – a humming
Only now do I see them
Ghosts walking up the hill
From Hiroshima below
 
Hands held aloft – skin peeling off
Wet flesh – red flesh.   The stench
Too much to bear, smells like
Squid – cooking 
 
They draw closer – drove after drove 
Of the living dead
 
“Water – we need water,” they beg
So I give them dregs from the well
 
If the dead can die again
As I quenched their thirsts – they did
 
A small child as I was then – thought 
I’d killed them, but my parents told me
No girl – the devil had.  He’d laughed
So much that day, tears streamed 
Down his face.  Fell as black,
poisoned rain
 
My tears long-since dried – still 
I feel to blame. Even decades on
My guilt remains. And my penance?
 
The kimono I was wearing – red dragons 
Breathing fire, branded on my skin
Such is my legacy. Such is humanity’s...
 
Of that day, seventy years ago, when
It looked itself in the eye...asked,
Man, what have we done?
 
The day someone...a hand, burned beyond 
Recognition pulled me from the rubble 
 
Who they were, I didn’t know and never did
Say, Thank you, but I’m saying it now, and
Like to think, that maybe, just maybe
Their name was, ‘Hope’....
 
Certificate 12
Poem
Silver Spun Sand Poems
Philosophy
Biography

Comments

Submitted by scratch on

Some really powerul anniversary poems today, Tina.  Luigi's also posted a very effective piece too.

 

Submitted by Silver Spun Sand on

Hello there, scratch...and yes, I have just read Luigi's more than powerful contribution to mark today's anniversary. Many thanks for reading mine, too.

Tina

 

Submitted by Bee on

Is this based on an actual account, Tina? I've read similar accounts, but your poem packs a punch and begs endless unanswered questions. It is powerful.

Bee

Submitted by Silver Spun Sand on

Hello there, Bee.  I have been working on, and researching this poem for quite some time, and the bulk of it is based on an actual account.  It is also based on a wonderful lady who was the BBC news programme last night.  She was eleven years old when it happened, and the last couple of stanzas were based on her own personal experiences.  Many thanks for reading, and for your interest.  

Tina

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

And those last 2 stanzas so powerful. How many stories of real love, compassion, sacrifice, occur in horrific events that few hear about. Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Silver Spun Sand on

Interesting, your comment, Rhiannon, because you pick out those last two stanzas, which, as I haved just explained to Bee were after listening to an interview on BBC 1 News just last night.

Your intuition never fails you.

Tina

 

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

This is such a powerful piece of writing Tina. Leaving such scars on a person can hold a mountain of memories to linger along lifes path. You told it in such a moving way.

Jenny.

 

Submitted by Silver Spun Sand on

Jenny - you are so right in what you say. 'Mountains of memories', most certainly.

Tina

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

Snap, Tina. What a coincidence that we both tackled this topic. Your perspective is original and written in your usual inimitable style. A moving story skilfully crafted.

Luigi xxx

 

Submitted by Silver Spun Sand on

Well hello there, Luigi, and as I explained to scratch, who drew my attention to your more than powerful tribute, I have just read it, and no one could fail to be moved by this informative and emotive account of events of a day that changed our world forever.  

Hats off to you again, dear Luigi, and to all the remarkable people who survived those horrendous events who serve to remind us all that only mankind could be ingenious enough to invent something which could realistically lead to its extinction.

Tina xxx

 

Submitted by EB on

That she feels to blame is another sad part. 

Submitted by Silver Spun Sand on

Yes, EB.  It is heartrending.

My thanks to you for sharing your thoughts.

Tina

 

Submitted by loquaciousicity on

Powerful...  

unfortunately, some are pushing for the next confrontation which will make Hiroshima look like a campfire...

Wonderful piece

Submitted by Silver Spun Sand on

Thank you, Terry, so very much, and for humanity's sake, please god, our fears are unfounded.

Tina