SADAKO FROM HIROSHIMA
1. She saw the Thunderbolt in the sky like a million suns, it prickled her eyes; she saw the Thunderbolt in the sky - two years old, it prickled her eyes.
But now she sits making paper cranes, paper cranes, paper cranes.
Now she sits making paper cranes - Sadako from Hiroshima.
2. She was a runner, swift and strong,
she was tall and slim and her legs were long; she was a runner, swift and strong -
ten years old and her legs were long.
3. She went to hospital tired and weak,
it was hard to laugh, it was hard to speak. she went to hospital tired and weak, eleven years old, it was hard to speak. And now she sits ...
4. She lost the race that she wanted to win - paper cranes couldn't cover her with their wings, cranes couldn't cover her with their wings - twelve years old and she wanted to win.
And now she lies with her ...
5. This is our cry, this is our prayer, "May the crane of peace fly everywhere!" This is our cry, this is our prayer, "Crane of peace fly everywhere!"
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On August 6th, 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped, on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. ‘Sadako And The Thousand Paper Crane’, a book by Eleanor Coerr, tells the story of a 2 year old girl called Sadako, who survived the bomb, apparently unscathed, along with her family. When she was 11 years old, however, she became ill with a form of radiation illness. She had to go to hospital. Her best friend came to visit her with a gift. She brought Sadako a folded paper crane, and reminded her of an old Japanese belief: if a sick person made a thousand paper cranes and made a wish on each one, she would get better. Sadako made 642 before she died, but her friends and classmates made the rest and she was buried with a thousand paper cranes. Her statue is in Hiroshima Peace Park — she stands holding an origami crane — and it is her story that has made the folded paper crane a symbol of peace the world over. The song was inspired particularly by a short prayer that Sadako's mother whispers one night as she leaves the hospital bed where her daughter is sleeping: "O flock of heavenly cranes, cover my child with your wings". |
30.9.24
Back from a Break
During September, Dorothy and I travelled
to Norway and the UK.
After long flights
- Adelaide to Melbourne,
Melb to Dubai (14 hrs),
Dubai to Oslo (7 hrs) -
we did Norway in a nutshell
from Oslo to Bergen, then
the Hurtigruten Cruise
up the west coast of Norway
and back again.
Then an 8 day Trafalgar tour
and 4 days in London,
before taking the direct flight
(16 3/4 hrs)
from Heathrow to Perth.
We're a bit tired (!) but we'll still be a part
of the LWA convention and the
General Convention .
See some of you there.