To the bombings this city endured
It was merciless, ultimate horror
I cannot say for sure whether glances of the dead
Still peer out from among these lights
Examining us from another world
They belong to old people, terribly shaken
By grief and indignation
Suffocated women whose bloody fingers
Scratched at dirt walls of bomb shelters
They are gape-mouthed mothers, already dead
Holding children in their arms
I know the denunciations
Raised by those 50,000 dead
Stand as an undying outcry
Indeed, my love for this city
Has another special reason
Namely that this great city
Like its kind, generous people
Always keeps its eyes on the future
Never seeking to duplicate vengeance
Here the totality of life
Compounded of time, death, and will to live
Has been rurned into historical memory
Weighty and universally tolerant!
In a sense one could say
This city抯 reflective attitude toward war
And its longing for peace
Is no other than what today抯 China
Gives as its answer to the world!