Wednesday, August 6, 2014

The Flowers of Hiroshima


In the midst of devastation,
on hillsides surrounding the rubble,
flowers began to bloom,
to give hope,
to encourage healing,
life, beginning again.

This is how much the earth
wants to live.

May the bombs cease.
May the earth mend.
May the human psyche heal.

May humanity's heart
regain the freshness
and the innocence
of new beginnings.
May our hearts open
to our fellow humans
like the first blossom
upon parched earth.

for Susan's prompt at Mid Week Motif: Hiroshima, to mark the anniversary.

Note: today's nuclear weapons are ONE THOUSAND TIMES more powerful than the ones dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Which means if even one was detonated anywhere in the world, it would be unmitigated disaster. 

I had written a much darker one for this prompt. Then I read about the flowers.






30 comments:

  1. i hear your prayer...
    and it is interesting how the earth wants to heal...and we see that in the life that tries to grow back...interesting perspective sherry....

    ReplyDelete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. sorry blogger is being wacky this morning...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you, Sherry. Of course I want to read the darker one, too, but I love how the oleander bloomed with the recovery of what might still nurture the survivors and survival of Hiroshima. From sacrilege to sacred, the earth turns. Thank you for turning this poem into a prayer.

    ReplyDelete
  5. You put it well, Koko. I love the fact that you decided to write a 'hopeful' poem. Somebody told me a good movie ends on a happy note. And I am seeing it evidenced here.

    Great poem, Koko.

    ReplyDelete
  6. may we all follow the flower trail..a beautiful prayer.. ..

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks always for flowers ..they always lift the dust..inside and out...beautiful piece...

    ReplyDelete
  8. let our heart be like those flowers..full of innocence and love...

    ReplyDelete
  9. This is a prayer of hope and beautiful faith in the goodness that lies within. Something we all need to learn.

    ReplyDelete
  10. "This is how much the earth
    wants to live."
    loved this Sherry ... we indeed live on a very forgiving mother earth!! i wonder though for how long we can trample her till she forgives no more!! lets all pray for peace!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. It's easy to write dark when darkness wants to win so badly. But glad you wrote of hope. Glad you decided to be the light.

    ReplyDelete
  12. The oleander is truly a flower of survival. If we can't listen to warning signs maybe we can listen to nature.

    ReplyDelete
  13. As always, your verse brings peace to my mind..... that a ray of hope exists somewhere and a flower will bloom..definitely...

    ReplyDelete
  14. shudders...really? May God grant the world peace and harmony to avoid those modern bombs from detonating anywhere. :(

    ReplyDelete
  15. May we have the wisdom not to go in that direction again.

    Beautifully written and full of hope.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I did not know this about the oleander. The earth indeed wants to live...this should be our model for healing as human beings. Beautiful poem and image!

    ReplyDelete
  17. I love the hope in your words. Indeed the earth wants to live and we want to destroy everything alive, without realizing we are digging our graves.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Sherry lovely hopeful lines- 'reminds one of the lines' I have found flowers' I wish the Earth would have more trees and flowers than bombs and blasts

    ReplyDelete
  19. Let all the hatred die and happiness blossoms all over the world.

    ReplyDelete
  20. God forbid! Hopefully we will not get a world leader trigger-happy enough to do the dreadful. Very touching Sherry!

    Hank

    ReplyDelete
  21. I like to think of those flowers….wonderful write.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Sherry,

    It is amazing that nature tries to restore sense and a future, otherwise destroyed by humans and their inhuman actions...An uplifting message from Hiroshima, through your flower connections.

    Eileen

    ReplyDelete
  23. So very true. Despite any kind of destruction life always finds a way to rebound. I think this is telling us something!

    ReplyDelete
  24. I did not know about the oleander. Not surprising though,it is highly toxic if ingested.The poisons of our earth are indestructable, it seems.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Oh what a prayer for peace. I love it.

    ReplyDelete
  26. I would love the world to listen more to the flowers - the eagerness to live, this is what's most important instead of our focus on death.

    ReplyDelete
  27. horrors are visited... then covered over, eventually, and beauty like this emerge ~

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much for visiting. I appreciate it and will return your visit soon.