Nagasaki Hiroshima - David Rovics

And the nuclear weapons research in Oak Ridge, Tennessee continues right now, every day.

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Ten thousand children played in the playground
Swinging on the swings, didn't hear the sound
Of the single plane that flew overhead
The third shift workers were just going to bed
There was a flash of light and a rumbling noise
And gone in a instant, parents, girls and boys

Ten thousand mothers were boiling rice
A thousand prisoners of war were rolling their dice
Hoping they'd survive this terrible storm
When each young man in his uniform
Vanished in the air in the blink of an eye
One moment they lived, the next they all died
Hiroshima, Hiroshima

Ten thousand chickens were sitting on eggs
Beaks in their wings, resting their legs
Ten thousand farmers were looking at their fields
Planning the harvest, guessing at yields
Dreaming of life after the war
The next second they weren't living no more
Hiroshima, Hiroshima

Ten thousand lovers made lover to each other
Each one of them thinking there might not be another
Living so long with death everywhere
Much more than one person alone can bear
But there wasn't time for a final kiss
Who could've known it would end like this
Hiroshima, Hiroshima

A hundred thousand people were living their lives
Grandparents, children, fathers and wives
Now they're just shadows on the street
In such a quick burst of incredible heat
Now listen to them talk about doing it again
From whence came the souls of these terrible men
Hiroshima, Hiroshima

Created May, 2003
Copyright David Rovics 2003, all rights reserved