In Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park
POETRY FORMAT, 10 Aug 2015
David Krieger, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation – TRANSCEND Media Service
David Krieger
The heat of summer is oppressive.
Children pass by in groups, chattering.
They wear school outfits –
black pants or skirts and white shirts.
Some groups are wearing yellow caps.
They stop at Sadako’s statue and,
in lilting voices, sing songs with words
I cannot understand.
When they finish their songs, they bow,
paying tribute to one of their own, Sadako,
forever young, a child of the bomb.
Though nearly seven decades have passed,
I feel guilty for what my country did here.
To whom can I apologize? To whom must
I apologize? It doesn’t matter.
They have already forgiven, long ago.
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David Krieger is President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment. He has a new collection of poems entitled Awake! For more visit the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation website: www.wagingpeace.org.
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 10 Aug 2015.
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