Children hush,
You're too noisy by far.
And the joyful noise lessened,
As the bus came nearer
The approaching car.
Ah - but children be children
And soon forget,
And quiet, a concept
Not mastered yet.
Young voices, then,
Rose again in glee -
And the car and the bus
Were in company.
But that noise was drowned
In the awful roar -
Of the bomb that shattered
The early morn -
And the bus and the car
Were shredded and torn.
The joyful noise
Was lost in space
And screams were there
To take its place.
And the children's blood
Soaked the sand
And here a foot,
And there a hand -
And there a child:
Never again able
To walk or stand.
And a hideous coward,
Humanity quashed
'neath a mantle of hate -
Has vanished into
The vastness of space:
A hero to those
Whose turns await