sara Etgen-Baker Poet Other

Notes About The Poem

image from: allthatsinteresting.com/hiroshima-aftermath-pictures

*The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki occurred on August 6 and August 9, 1945, respectively. (Wikipedia.com)

poem submitted to "1494" poetry contest, Brian Strand, sponsor, August 4, 2026

SOLILOQUY FOR HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI

This poem was originally written for and submitted to Writer Monk's monthly poetry contest on social conscience August 1, 2026

Morning rose over two cities 
that no longer knew their own names~  
light too bright, silence too large,  
that felt like the world forgetting how to breathe.  

Shadows clung to walls where people once stood,  
soft silhouettes of lives interrupted mid-gesture,  
mid-dream.  

The air carried a strange stillness,  
as though time itself had bowed its head.  

And yet from the scorched earth, 
from the quiet ash,  
from the trembling remnants of what had been~  
a small, stubborn pulse began again.  

Hands reached for hands; voices rose in prayer.  
Memory gathered itself into a vow  
that sorrow would not be forgotten,  
and peace would not be postponed.  

Even now, the sky remembers  
the day humanity learned how fragile it can be.

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Valsa George August 3, 2026 at 8:58 PM Through such shocking events, we come to realize and accept how fragile human life is. The stillness and the dark memories hovering over those cities are disheartening. Yet, the people resiliently come back to life. This poem is a powerful reminder of a tragedy of horrendous proportions!

Alison A Smith August 3, 2026 at 5:35 AM So we hope that this fragility is never driven so close to total disrepair again.👏💞