Lest we forget the extent of the ravages of war, Kurihara Sadako powerfully illustrates the pracitcal consequeces of the when sciecne and warfare meet. WARNING This poem contains graphic language about death.
"The atomic catastrophe occurred on 6 August, and a neighbor girl, a freshman at First Prefectural Girls' Higher School, did not come home. Finally, on 9 August, we heard that her corpse was in the primary school in Koi, so three of us—her uncle, her mother, and I—immediately set out at four o'clock to bring her body home. This is a poem about the scene at the aid station, the fires still burning as we came home, and the streets bright with crematory fires." Kurihara Sadako