This pain makes even the most perfectly clear blue skies sorrowful. Life is like a wave that comes over you, you flowers of the field, living in vain.
Consolation, encouragement, for Nagasaki.
Ah, Nagasaki's bells are ringing.
Confess the sins of your heart. The night is falling; a dark moon hangs in the sky. Even in the pillars of the poor dwellings lives the noble, white-clad Virgin.
Consolation, encouragement, for Nagasaki.
Ah, Nagasaki's bells are ringing...
The peace bell of Nagasaki is well know, but the song refers to the "Bells of Nagasaki" by Dr. Nagai, who was a survivor of the atomic bombing.
the city of Nagasaki website has a section about Dr. Nagai, who is called "The Man who Loved Others as Himself".It includes this description of the bombing:
His most famous book is called the Bells of Nagasaki.The title refers to the bells of Urakami Cathedral, of which Nagai writes:
The explosion of the atomic bomb came altogether unexpectedly. I saw the flash of light in the radium laboratory. Not only my present but also my past and future were blown away in the blast. My beloved students burned together in a ball of fire right before my eyes. Then I collected my wife, whom I had asked to take care of the children after my death but who now had become a bucket-full of soft ashes, from the burnt-out ruins of our house. She had died in the kitchen. For me, the injury to the right side of my body and acute atomic disease caused by the atomic bomb were added to my chronic radiation illness, disabling me far sooner than expected."
These are the bells that did not ring for weeks or months after the disaster. May there never be a time when they do not ring! May they ring out this message of peace until the morning of the day on which the world ends.'
more HERE. and HERE.
His books were popular because of their Japanese stoicism toward suffering, but his emphasis on forgiveness and peace come from his Catholic background but also are consistent with the Buddhist elements of Japanese society.
factoid: I always thought his leukemia was due to the atomic bomb, but apparently like many other physicians who were radiologists of the time, it developed from his exposure to radiation from the x-ray machines.
a Japanese film made on 1950 was based on the book
The Higgins brothers are raising money to complete an English language film about his life LINK
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