Gracious Strength
(To Japan)

By Tatiana Pahlen

“If nature launches another crime
Against the human race,
I'll never form another rhyme
To glamorize Your Grace.”
(From Tsunami, January 6, 2004.)

I am breaking vows not to relay
The ability of beastly nature;
at times it’s tranquil, next it’s vile,
causing humans to exile,
lessening their colossal stature.

Could anyone spell what’s in the cards
held by the scheming players?
No one knows the following act,
No one’s safe from the scoring fact
in countless losses.

Who is up there making dire scenes
Earthquakes, vortexes, tsunamis,
igniting volcanoes, staging Big Floods,
hurricanes with repugnant barricades,
Sending tornadoes and blizzards?

The ancient country of the noblemen
that spawn artists and poets,
Learned geishas with dignified samurais,
where suns breathtakingly rise,
struck without precaution.

The heroic nation has its share to heal
Old scars of atomic blows,
When disaster broke and whipped off its lands
enabling alongside six nuclear plants,
bursting particles into the air.

The water polluted, a world of produce
seaweed, seafood and rice
all tainted, radioactively high,
Their farms officially deadly infused
With toxic levels of mercury.

The reactor workers toil day and night
Sacrificing their life for the country.
Taking turns they are ready to die
With souls as pure as their minds,
Parading courage and bravery.

I bow before you, Japan.

March 19, 2011

Copyright © 2011 Tatianyc. All Rights Reserved.