THE ATOMIC LANTERN

 

Dreams of warriors

and cowards and peace

campaigners

twelve poets

the old, the ill

women

and children

and a dog

Are revealed as indistinct shadows on the wall

 

Dry grasses merely burn

Birds in flight are dust in the wind

And the words in this poem burn on the page

 

No creature moves

A strange kind of peace

 

 

 

 

This poem alludes to a famous haiku by M. Basho (first line of which is: The summer grasses). Who in his poem alluded to an even earlier poem by Du Fu [also know in the west as Tu Fu] (called: Gazing at Spring). Both works are well worth reading but neither is essential to an understanding of this poem. Both poems deal with the interaction between nature and war.