We Shall Bring Forth New Life

We Shall Bring Forth New Life

It was the night in the basement of a broken building.
Victims of the atomic bomb
Crowded into the candleless darkness,
Filling the room to overflowing --
The smell of fresh blood, the stench of death,
The stuffiness of human sweat, the writhing moans --
When, out of the darkness, came a wondrous voice.
"Oh! The Baby's coming!" it said.
In the basement turned to living hell
A young woman had gone into labor!
The others forgot their own pain in their concern:
What could they do for her, having not even a match
To bring light to the darkness?
Then came another voice: "I am a midwife.
I can help her with the baby."
It was a woman who ha been moaning in pain only moments before.
And so, a new life was born
In the darkness of that living hell.
And so, the midwife died before the dawn
Still Soaked in the blood of her own wounds.
We shall give forth new life!
We shall bring forth new life!
Even to our death.

Sadako Kurihara