On the 40th anniversary of the double war crime of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a group of Japanese A-bomb survivors (known in Japanese as Hibakusha) toured Southern California to talk of their experiences. This song was written to honor them.
I did not experience the horror that you tell;
Wasn’t even born when it took place.
Though I was no witness to that living dying hell,
The story that I read upon your face,
Is something that my mind cannot erase.
When your world was swallowed by that all-consuming flame,
It was then that you were made to see,
That the world we’re living in will never be the same,
Somehow, we must show humanity,
That this madness doesn’t have to be.
Hibakusha, I will not forget,
You and those whose lives were turned to dust.
And since so many haven’t learned the lesson yet,
Hibakusha, we each do what we must.
Leaders talk of noble and necessary war,
Making flesh and bone and blood abstract,
Dangerous delusion, too deadly to ignore;
Hibakusha, we know that we must act,
If we are to turn disaster back.
Hibakusha, I will not forget,
You and those whose lives were turned to dust.
And since so many haven’t learned the lesson yet,
Hibakusha, we each do what we must,
Hibakusha, we each do what we must.
Wasn’t even born when it took place.
Though I was no witness to that living dying hell,
The story that I read upon your face,
Is something that my mind cannot erase.
When your world was swallowed by that all-consuming flame,
It was then that you were made to see,
That the world we’re living in will never be the same,
Somehow, we must show humanity,
That this madness doesn’t have to be.
Hibakusha, I will not forget,
You and those whose lives were turned to dust.
And since so many haven’t learned the lesson yet,
Hibakusha, we each do what we must.
Leaders talk of noble and necessary war,
Making flesh and bone and blood abstract,
Dangerous delusion, too deadly to ignore;
Hibakusha, we know that we must act,
If we are to turn disaster back.
Hibakusha, I will not forget,
You and those whose lives were turned to dust.
And since so many haven’t learned the lesson yet,
Hibakusha, we each do what we must,
Hibakusha, we each do what we must.
Contributed by Larry Moore - 2023/5/5 - 21:29
×
![]()
Note for non-Italian users: Sorry, though the interface of this website is translated into English, most commentaries and biographies are in Italian and/or in other languages like French, German, Spanish, Russian etc.
