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ALBERT B. CASUGA, a Philippine-born writer, lives in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, where he continues to write poetry, fiction, and criticism after his retirement from teaching and serving as an elected member of his region's school board. He was nominated to the Mississauga Arts Council Literary Awards in 2007. A graduate of the Royal and Pontifical University of St. Thomas (now University of Santo Tomas, Manila. Literature and English, magna cum laude), he taught English and Literature (Criticism, Theory, and Creative Writing) at the Philippines' De La Salle University and San Beda College. He has authored books of poetry, short stories, literary theory and criticism. He has won awards for his works in Canada, the U.S.A., and the Philippines. His latest work, A Theory of Echoes and Other Poems was published February 2009 by the University of Santo Tomas Publishing House. His fiction and poetry were published by online literary journals Asia Writes and Coastal Poems recently. He was a Fellow at the 1972 Silliman University Writers Workshop, Philippines. As a journalist, he worked with the United Press International and wrote an art column for the defunct Philippines Herald.

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

SAYONARA




MY POEM TODAY was prompted by this post shared with me by poet Felix Fojas who suggested I write a poem on his grief. I said I would not be rid of the pain in my heart about this victim in the 1945 bombing of Nagasaki in Japan during WWII until I let it out in a poem. I asked him to write a poem, too. Here is "SAYONARA".



SAYONARA

(For all the Children who perished from the Bomb)



I must hurry before they set it on fire,
I must hurry to where they built the pyre.
I must lay you gently down, my brother,
I must save you, Hiro, from some more pain.



There, beyond, Otosan waits for you, to carry you
To where Mother builds a little hut with tatami
Where you will all lie down to rest at sundown,
Where you are all far from the burning cloud.



Father and Mother will no longer be lonely.
Sayonara, Hiro, my little brother. I will not weep.



--- ALBERT B. CASUGA
August 11, 2015, 70 years after the bombing of Nagasaki




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