Twice a year for just over a decade I had the privilege and exciting opportunity of working for a week at a time in Japan. I was invited by the School of Aromatherapy in Tokyo to give the Reflexology section of the Aromotherapy Diploma.
On one of my trips after the 30 hour course given over 5 days, I caught the Shinkansen, the High Speed Bullet train, to Hiroshima. I enjoyed three wonderful days and relived the sad story I read many times called Sadako and a Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr.
It was the time of the 65th anniversary. I headed to the Peace Park where I went each day and was there early morning on the 6th August 2010.
The photo shows Hiroshima Peace Park completed in 1954. The park contains 66 statues, monuments and buildings that stand as a symbol of the nuclear abolition and the vow of humanity to pursue peace.
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hiroshima sixty-five years on
sings a song of hope
cicadas have the upper note
the coo of doves
like tenors ground the sound
cooling water trickles
and children play
incense wafts from beds of sand
people bow as they pass
coloured cranes like prayer flags
hang on trees
and memorials
today is warm balmy
i sit by the river near the epicentre
it is 8.15 am
bells
ring out across the peace park
and around the city
Colleen Keating A Call to Listen 2014 Ginninderra Press.