Prayer to the Goddess of Mercy

Who can witness it all, if
in the moment after usual
breakfast, bread and butter, coffee,

a huge fire ball
suddenly
explodes overhead, if

lethal rays
evaporate every
being on earth –

if our flesh blown apart
by the blast, skin hanging,
bleeding, like rags,

hair burnt, eyes
jetting out, mouth torn,
only the heart

beating, a swarm of crumbling
bodies creeping
toward a boiling river,

a smoldering woman rocking her
dead child as if to waken
it from a nightmare,

a man, arms gone,
naked, carried
by a woman in a tattered robe –

who can tell it all?

Where are you now?

Will you stop all this at once
and reverse the scenes?
Otherwise, freeze us

as we are

and burst out
laughing,

or spare us a few moments
for a last
cry

for help,

Maya, Maria, Kannon!

Pleasew check out what Donald Richie says about Masako’s Story in the Japan Times for Sunday, August 5th. Here’s the link! —Jesse