I stood in my muddy shoes for a moment quite shocked,
I looked above at the sound quite ignorant, my fate locked,
By vicious mankind their heart sold in for power and lust,
In seconds I would obliterate and be Pink Mist!
I am hit in a heartbeat and I feel nothing,
In a moment liberated from being an earthling,
I turn to a wisp of flesh and blood,
So little, so less, no more than mud,
Not that I mind being free from this tormenting world,
But what of my little ones, they've barely lived at all,
I am scattered fragments of a human body so soon,
Killed for no reason, no fault, no boon!
I hope my little ones die right now,
Than to live sickly in a world so foul!
I am a Pink Mist somewhere far beyond,
Liberated from the world, from all it's bonds!
Written for Midweek Motif at Poets United!
&
Written in memory of Hiroshima Bombing Victims.
Even I didn't go so far as to specify my character in front of death! You are the brave one! Choosing pink mist is genius as is the mood of this narrator and the tone of the poem. Liberation is tempered with care for a family who might not escape. But what an escape! Wow!
ReplyDeleteI dont think of it as liberation more as relief from living as a victim of aftermath of bombing... to be worn in health and dying slowly of insufferable diseases!!
DeleteThis is chillingly accurate. Every time I' have seen pictures or read about this I have cried tears that humanity could do this
ReplyDeletemy poem today is also about this though differently worded. http://poeticyearnings.blogspot.ca/2014/08/three-word-wednesday-remember-those-days.html
Deletereally beautiful poem Sheilagh!! wonderfully done!
DeleteA painful thing to be a mother when her children are threatened. The bell rings for the people who left only a mist behind
ReplyDeleteAmen to that Moonie... we shall all pray!!
Delete" I hope my little ones die right now,
ReplyDeleteThan to live sickly in a world so foul! "
merciless world ! where innocent lives are destroyed for nothing...how touching these lines are ..:-(
the whole incident is grievous Maniparna!
DeleteThis is a fantastic write! I had written a darker response, at first, and researching for it, I came across terrible truths......like one little boy who saw a head - just a head - sitting in a pumpkin patch, and another who said that after the bomb "I didnt have a mommy any more". The person who was one of the developers of the bomb, after he saw the test bomb in New Mexico, said he was reminded of a verse from the Bhagavad Gita: "Now I am become Death, destroyer of worlds." I wonder how those who developed the bomb, and those who deployed it, went on to live their lives - did they sleep at night?
ReplyDeletei loved the thought of merciful nature... the thought of a flower growing amidst such devastation Sherry!! i read a lot of sad poems on this prompt! yours was refreshing and full of hope... i read one of the poems that described the plight of a soldier who was in the war... the sleepless nights he spends... i dont think that was very inaccurate!! i think it was Marco's poem for the same prompt! not sure though!
DeletePhysicist and Philosopher Richard Feynman who helped to develop 'the bomb' became disillusioned after Germany was no longer a factor..and saw the imbalance of killing power that becomes a horrific reality for so many families you tell of heart in your words here....
ReplyDeleteAh..the natural aversion to human killing so much easier to press a button from thousands of miles away..in decision words..behind a desk..than to grasp the throat of another human being..and snuff the last breath out of them...
Most people can't stomach drowning a rat..when it comes to the real thing..watching the little thing gasp for his last breath...
Empathy...
it is all that's left
to save the world...
Growing it from the seeds that exist now..
IS TRULY a challenge now!
but anyway..smiles and hope you have a good rest of the night..
without nightmares of this..truth
that
does need to be relayed to future generations..as long as they come..bomb free!
i think Kate... if it were not for Hiroshima or Nagasaki we would have had a a-bomb somewhere else... it was only history lessons that have put any control on powerhungry people and country. so maybe the truth does need to be relayed afterall... how else are we to learn who wernt there to see the horridness!
DeleteI love your vision of yourself as a pink mist. It provides beauty to the sadness your poem evokes. Great job!!!
ReplyDeleteJames "pink mist" is a phrase commonly used for what is left of a human body after its blasted ! its a rather sweet name for a gruesome vision! thank yoU!
Deletethanks for the explanation. Now I'm sad once more... :(
Deleteits really sad James!
DeleteI was only 9 when the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. War had ended in Europe and the war with Japan was likely to drag on for a long time. Despite this the horror and implication of this weapon was realised immediately; so every country wanted them then! We shouldn't be called mankind but manhate!
ReplyDeletei consider myself blessed to not have lived through those horrible times!! it must have been hhorrible.. i can only imagine!
DeleteIs there really any true liberation when you have little ones?
ReplyDeletenot liberation alice.. maybe not! but wouldnt it be better for the little ones to die in a blast than be killed in a slow poisonous tortured death living half crippled and mutilated by war and explosion!! the times after were too painful i think for children to live in them!
DeleteThere are worse ways to die, but no worse reason than the senseless one of obliterating civilians.
ReplyDeletetrue that Ann!! i wish the hatred was so much less!
DeleteThis was heart breaking. My heart aches not only for the ones who died but for the ones who were left behind...sad!
ReplyDeletePrayer is all we have to give!
DeleteA thoughtful piece, soberly put.
ReplyDeleteA side comment: I find the bolded underlined words distract me from the flow of the work.
Thank you Cosmo for the insight... i love your feedback and just realised ure right!!
Deletetruth is sometimes unbearable..what pain a parent 's heart must have suffered that he would pray for his / her child to die...you've brought out the trauma of the aftermath so vividly Arushi and also the untold mute sorrow in the pink mist...a brilliant write...
ReplyDeleteThank you Sumana....
DeleteWhat a gripping perspective...in some way I am happy her shoes are lifted out the mud
ReplyDeleteincinerated Rose!!.. they were burnt!
DeleteMy apologies..I think I intended that she didn't have to suffer for long
DeleteThank you Rose! no problem at all!!
DeleteSuch devastation that was not needed, you captured it quite brilliantly in a few lines. The loss is always human.
ReplyDeleteThank you George!! thats the most tragic of all losses!
Delete"I turn to a wisp of flesh and blood,
ReplyDeleteSo little, so less, no more than mud," - This is a haunting image.
Talking about the horror from first person's perspective definitely has a greater impact on the reader's mind because one personal experience can counteract many other outsider observation. A powerful and gut-wrenching piece.
thank you Enigma!! i can only imagine the horror and write about it!! no one actually knows what they felt that died that day!!I pray for them!
Deletethat's a beautiful tribute to the victims of the most horrifying incident in human history but the world is still competing for weapons of mass destruction.
ReplyDeleteLuminous Smile
thank you Cifar!! there is no peace in the world yet!
DeleteOne gets to be having feelings of despondence. With lots of destructive power those on the ground just lament over the inaction of those who have the ability to act but did not. Nicely Arushi!
ReplyDeleteHank
Its true Hank... its power that not just corrupts a human but also society... if power came with purity wars would not be... thank you!!
Delete