Zamese

Zamese

Stanzas	2
Lines	9/stanza = 18 lines
Syllable/Words	7 words/line
Rhymes	1 rhyme on odd lines
Repeat

—doubled, sort-of.  Dues to the quote from Mr. Yamaguchi at the end this poem isn't quite doubled.  I didn't want to distract from the quote by futzing with it.

1945

Just stepping off the tram that day

He became a part of history,

Caught by the blast of the U.S.’s endplay.

The B-29 Enola Gay dropped ‘Little Boy’

Changing the world in a horrific way.                                      

Sent from Nagasaki for a business meeting,

Tsutomu Yamaguchi, just in Hiroshima for the day,

Survived the first atomic blast in Japan.

Burned, deaf, and temporarily blind , he went home the next day.

While speaking with his supervisor two days later,          

Explaining how close he’d come to death,

Another flash of light, another crater.

The second B-29, Bockscar, dropped ‘Fat Man.’

Many weeks to heal the new blisters,

But Mr. Yamaguchi survived this blast too.                          

His wife, caught in fall-out, at 88 died of cancer.

His son, was a baby, and at 59 became cancer’s victim.

His daughter is now the only survivor.

Tsutomu Yamaguchi managed to live a full life.

He died at age 93 on Monday.                                                   

Against nuclear weapons he was very active,

Invited to speak directly to the United Nations.

A handful of people, through both bombings, lived,

Though Japan says he was the only one.

January 4, 2010, cancer claimed another captive.              

Yet his words will inspire those still here

To reach out to others and forgive.

“My double radiation exposure is now

An official government record, it can tell

The younger generation the horrifying history

Of the atomic bombings even after I die.

Having been granted that miracle of survival

It is my responsibility to pass on

The truth to the people of the world.”