Hiroshima Cloud Cover

The black rain fell

    and fell

         and in time

              they came to realize

                   it was their friends and relatives

                        blasted into dust

                            raining down on them

                                for too many days

                                      to count

     and they wiped them

               from their faces

     and breathed them in

               giving them back

                    bodies to live in

Until finally

     they didn't notice

         their falling particles

               dancing in the air

               and unnoticed

                    they stopped falling

      and life went on

           even with so many gone

      and the air cleared

      and the memory lifted

      and the white birds

            returned to the blue sky

And an Emperor

     sat

      on a throne

              of Democracy