DIES IRAE HIROSHIMA NAGASAKI
By:
Joseph A. Volker, Ph.D.
August 6, 2005
Dies irae, dies illa
Oh day of wrath, oh day of mourning
See fulfilled the prophets warning,
Heaven and earth in ashes burning
Death is struck and nature quaking
Nothing unavenged remaineth,
Hiroshima Nagasaki
Doomed to flames of woe unbounded.
Day of infamy extolling,
bombs of sin-ergy exploding
Shadow staining, flesh enflaming
Oh that day of tears and sorrow
What shall I frail man be pleading,
Hiroshima Nagasaki
Worthless are my prayers and sighing.
From retribution who will save us
For the deed so baneful fashioned
For destruction, dissolution.
All our shame with anguish owning
When of heaven’s judgment stoning
Deeds, disaster, death deciding
Hiroshima, Nagasaki
Adam, atoms, madness reigning
Grim the reaper still he’s knocking,
Nations lust for power and war.
Future tense with resolution
Seeking pardon’s destitution
Expiation, exorcism,
dispensation for the crime,
Hiroshima, Nagasaki
atom bombs, proliferation.
Stave the arsenal of madness
Conjure sanity and wisdom
Grace and absolute contrition
Embryonic seeds of death,
Nuclear nights consuming fires.
War forsake, a nation’s pleading,
Hiroshima, Nagasaki
Peace not war, true trust restore.
David
and the Sybil joiningCast out the spell of vengeance' kneading,
Iron hull of hate’s dark seething.
Cast
out the spell of vengeance' kneading,
Iron hull of hate’s dark seething.
Not in armaments alluring
Not in gleaning wealth and power,
Death dark rains, Hibakusha's sorrow,
Hiroshima, Nagasaki
Bleeding, burning vengeful fire.
Who will save us from such sadness,
Save us from secure solutions,
Preemptive war, a leader’s folly
Collat’ral damage, shock and awe.
Strife and conflict notwithstanding,
Such a peace bleeds all the more.
Grant
them Lord, your consolation,
Spare us Lord, the conflagration,
Oh, good Jesus, peace restore.
Through thy peace alone intone
Sadako Sas'ki’s, deathbed prayer
Peace
not war,
not
Nagasaki
Peace
not war,
not
Hiroshima,
Lay
down your arms, embrace your child,
Forgive, repent but don’t forget.
Never Again! Amen.
