There is a cable channel that shows lots of videos with commentary on war in general, but WWII in particular. I watch it with some regularity because I have a need to reinforce the outrage I have with war today that I did not have in my youth. In a recent episode they showed a video of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As the mushroom cloud welled up over Nagasaki, I saw a clear face in the burgeoning chaotic cloud. It was of a man with a look of terror on his face. It lasted only a second or two. This vision left me in cold silence.

In the Aftermath

Megatons of throw weight and
Roentgens per hour tell me little
Blistered flesh is more to the point
Scattered debris for miles
And not so much as a bird in flight
Depict the tragedy
An empty feeling
Without the pain
The cessation of life
The turmoil of strife
Where is the shame?
How much mental exertion
Does it take to turn
Life into cinders
Hopes into dust
Dreams into nothing?
Where once we built
Now we destroy
Where there was laughter
Now there are only tears
Have we learned
That listening makes sense
That cooperation is our ally
That building toward the future
Is not a lost cause?
A thousand lives lost
Cannot replace one smile
Not today
Not ever.