Riyoko Hara/Japan

Peace is ...

Two elder girls were picking flowers 

On the paths in a large rice field.

One girl had pink flowers,

The other had yellow ones.

The rice field was so large,

But there seemed to be no flowers,

I looked around but could not find any.

Far away were seen a row of mountains.

And this rice field was like a fantasy world.

I tried hard to find flowers in vain.

The two girls came to me,

And gave me a pink flower and a yellow one.

The cold stalks in my hand delighted me.

I wanted more.

I tried much harder, again in vain.

But I was sure I could, because those girls could.

I crouched and gazed

For some time how long I don't know.

Now I was alone in the rice field.

Had the girls gone home?

My house had been burned by an air raid of the war,

And I had moved to this country village.

This moment in the rice field,

I was in peace holding in my hand the two flowers

The village girls gave me.

That was a tiny bit of peace in the war.

Even now I open my hand

To find there the pink and yellow flowers.

I am a peace keeping girl cherishing what the two girls gave me.

I will give beautiful flowers to girls looking for ones in a rice field.

Look, peace is beautiful,

Really beautiful.