For Caroline & Michael
And there was a great light,
and their clothes became dazzling white
and the appearance of their faces changed.
And there was a cloud overshadowing them
and they were terrified as they entered it.
And they kept silent.
– – –
Behold the man!
A shadow etched into a wall
still.
Stand to face his hypocentre.
See the seared civilian flesh
on his right hand
and hear the hundreds of thousands of shadows
prophesying
an unpeopled future.
Some have tried to lift their voices
but what voices can be lifted
when they have been silenced?
Little boy and little girl
fat man and thin woman—
we the billions exist in spooked oblivion.
Once a year or perhaps one day a decade
our shadows tell us it is time
to pay attention to the remnant on his left hand
crying out crying
for the rule of law and justice and peace! peace! peace!
But they too have been silenced.
There has been no peace no peace
no peace for the shadows
who cannot submit to such a hollow victory.
Their broken hearts cannot be bound up.
They were emptied out way back.
Nor will the blinded recover their sight
when the forces of evil must be unleashed
to combat the forces of evil.
And there will be no release for captives released
to stumble their way back
to an indeterminate existence
remarking in their silence
that war makes no heroes—
heroes know only the shame shadowing them
for pity’s sake!
Where the bells of Urakami tolled
a thousand penitents making their confession
will be cindered again and again and again until—
Be still.
Listen.
My reading of the poem:
Responses and reflections:
- “VJ Day 2025” stories
- Writing “VJ Day 2025”, forthcoming
Publications and press:
- Clare Bryden “VJ Day 2025”, Conference Booklet, 47th Annual Conference of the National Justice and Peace Network, Swanwick, 25-27 July 2025.
- Clare Bryden “VJ Day 2025”, UK Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, 6 August 2025, online.
- “Devon Poet Weaves Faith, War and Loss into Poem Commemorating 80th Anniversary of VJ Day”, Roots & Shoots, Diocese of Exeter, online, 12 August 2025. [many thanks to Chloe Axford at the Diocese for this piece, and for circulating the story around local press and national Christian media]
- “Clare Bryden Commemorates 80th Anniversary of VJ Day With New Poem”, Milestones, Exeter Cathedral, 13 August 2025.
- “Devon poet marks VJ Day with moving tribute to war and peace”, Devon Live, 13 August 2025, online.
- “Poignant plea for peace on VJ Day 80”, Western Morning News, 15 August 2025 and online.
- Cathedral Life, Exeter Cathedral, 15 August 2025.
- Clare Bryden “VJ Day 2025”, Pew Sheet, St Thomas’ Church, Exeter, 17 August 2025 and online.
- Newsletter, National Justice and Peace Network, forthcoming.
- Newsletter, Uniting for Peace, September / October, forthcoming.
Readings:
- Colin Archer at the annual Nagasaki Day commemoration, Leeds, 9 August 2025.
- Clare Bryden at the Lord Mayor of Exeter’s commemoration of 80th Anniversary – Victory over Japan, Northernhay Gardens, Exeter, 15 August 2025 with BSL interpretation by Judy Burgess. [huge thanks to Caroline Harlow, High Sheriff of Devon, and Anne Jobson, Lord Mayor of Exeter for involving me in the ceremony]
Interviews:
- UCB Radio, 15 August 2025 and online.
- Greatest Hits Devon Radio, 15 August 2025.
- BBC Radio Devon, 17 August 2025.
On 6th August 1945, the Allies dropped a “Little Boy” nuclear bomb on Hiroshima. Three days later on 9th August, they dropped a “Fat Man” bomb on Nagasaki. Estimates of the dead by the end of 1945 vary from 150,000 to 246,000. Many shadows of people were left etched in walls or on steps when their bodies were vaporised. The hypocentre of the Nagasaki bomb (directly beneath its detonation) was close to Urakami Roman Catholic Cathedral, where more than a 1,000 people were attending Mass in preparation for the Feast of the Assumption on 15th August, and were incinerated. The fallen remains of the belfry are now part of a designated Registered Monument.
The Japanese Emperor’s announcement of surrender was broadcast on 15th August 1945, now observed as Victory over Japan (VJ) Day or Victory in the Pacific (VP) Day. Many British prisoners of war across SE Asia had to wait weeks after VJ Day to be found and released, and only months after Victory in Europe (VE) Day did they return to a Britain that had largely moved on.
Each year the church observes 6th August as the Feast of the Transfiguration. The poem draws on Luke 9.28-36 (paralleled in Mark 9.2-9; Matthew 17.1-9), the Gospel reading used at Holy Communion on 6th August 2025—the disciples see Jesus appear in glory, with Moses and Elijah representing the law and the prophets standing to his left and right. See also John 19.5 (in John’s Gospel, Jesus is revealed in glory on the cross), Luke 4.18-19 quoting Isaiah 61.1-4, and Psalm 46.10.
The post’s feature image is of the “Baker” Explosion, part of Operation Crossroads, a US Army nuclear test at Bikini Atoll, Micronesia, on July 25, 1946. Image source: Wikimedia Commons, scaled and cropped to 16:9.
