Nagasaki

Once more, upon these graves
Without a corpse
Where grass now grows
And folding chairs in rows – 
We sit respectfully
At break of day
And try to fan
The flames away.

Only cicadas scream
And clouds of smoke
Rise as our foes’
Housewives and children rose;
Rising, too, memories
Threaten to choke,
Such leveled dreams
As they evoke.

She did not burn with them
But she was here – 
Her ghost with theirs
This cemetery shares
And all their horror, thirst
And agony
With my new grief 
Explodes in me.

– Jessica Reynolds Shaver

Ypres

Every intelligent person in the world knew that disaster was impending and knew no way to avoid it.

– H. G. Wells

Flanders Fields – Ypres

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

– John McCrae

Hải Vân Pass, Vietnam

We held the coastline
They held the highlands
And they were sharp
As sharp as knives
They heard the hum of our motors
They counted the rotors
And waited for us to arrive
And we would all go down together
We said we’d all go down together
Yes, we would all go down together

Billy Joel – Goodnight Saigon

But each word we spoke, the wind blew away

This love, it is a distant star
Guiding us home wherever we are
This love, it is a burning sun
Shining light on the things that we’ve done

I try to speak to you everyday
But each word we spoke, the wind blew away

Could these walls come crumbling down?
I want to feel my feet on the ground
And leave behind this prison we share
Step into the open air

How did we let it come to this?
What we just tasted we somehow still miss

How will it feel when this day is done
And can we keep what we’ve only begun?

And now these walls come crumbling down
And I can feel my feet on the ground
Can we carry this love that we share
Into the open air?

– Into The Open Air – Julie Fowlis

Humans of India

 

 

 

 

This was the wonderful thing about strangers. They were big blank pieces of paper, you could draw whatever you like on their impressionable surfaces. – Jonet Fitch

Mount of Olives – Israel

“O Father, still let me live! Do not close my book before the last word! Earth is afraid to remain widowed when the man dies who speaks a new word; you have let only one word from Heaven, given forth by my mouth, fall on its withered breast. But this word is so pure and its sweetness is such that it almost intoxicated the human family with a drop of life and divinity, when opening my arms I said: ‘Fraternity’.”

Jesus – http://www.actingoutpolitics.com/alfred-de-vignys-poem-the-mount-of-olives-in-history-christs-godly-nature-and-his-sacrifice-and-resurrection-became-much-more-important-than-his-teaching/

Disneyland Paris

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Disneyland will be never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in this world. – Walt disney

Yad Vashem – the path of remembrance and reflection

First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.
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http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/lesson_plans/poems_paintings.asp

Good evening, Hanoi

If you can look at the sunset and smile, you still have hope.