“I’m so thankful for the atom bombs.”
Who would not take a celestial rag
And wipe away every drop of blood
No matter how patriotic
And wring it out in some far away ocean
That doesn’t exist?
There once was a farm boy
Who loved the sea more than crops.
No girl in tow,
Pearl Harbor enlisted him in the Navy.
They put him on a supply boat,
Delivering materials for beach landings.
At first, nothing much happened.
Just sea storms in a light craft.
Then, in the Philippines,
A Japanese air attack.
“Lost some good men.”
Wished he had prayed with one who died.
Assigned, finally, to attack Honshu,
The main island.
Truman nodded.
The bombs dropped.
Little Boy incinerated 80,000 human beings in Hiroshima in a minute.
Fat Boy incinerated 39,000 human beings in Nagasaki in a minute.
Not counting fauna.
Understandably,
(You and I were not ordered to attack Japan,
Not asked to sacrifice our own lives).
Years later, he said in the local paper:
“I’m so thankful for the atom bombs.”
That’s what war does.
Published in Bindweed Magazine