Hiroshima Remembered

Kengo the fireman
was on his bicycle
crossing Kannon bridge
in Hiroshima
it was around 8.17 a.m.          
we know because
his watch stopped
and is still to be seen
on the internet


Kengo jumped into the river
burning badly
then got home to burn-die
with 200,000 others

there was
no war on terror declared
no outcry in the west
no hunt for the perpetrators
no day of mourning in Ireland
no laying waste of the country
that harboured
and sheltered
the criminals
no search for lice
in Truman's hair
no search for weapons
of mass destruction

there were only shouts
of victory
lame excuses
honour received
winner-flattery
and a fake
moral high ground