Tuesday 6 August 2013

OPPENHEIMER/HIROSHIMA/THE LAST SONG


68 years ago Hiroshima became the first city to be targeted by an atomic weapon.

The Last Song

I am a shadow on the wall.
My memoir- that you read now-
Is but a product of someone else’s imagining
But my story is true.
It is a love story…
…or, rather, a love song…

           When you opened your mouth
            It was not words that came out
It was music:
A melody, pitched above the baritone drone
Of propellers and engines overhead,
A melody pitched beneath
Shrill klaxons,
The air raid sirens.
I took you in my arms and embraced you.
It was music- not words-
And your smile filled the sky
And all was saturated in white light.
A moment.
A moment passed, imperceptibly.
The white light- a flash-
Frozen
And there was nothing but you
You and I
Bigger than war
Bigger than war and death and God.
But what I saw was not you before me.
Just an image burned on my retina.
                

                I was clutching at a shadow when the shockwave hit
                Turning my bones to dust and ash.

___ 


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