Hibakujumoku (Survivor Tree)

Far in the future,

the humble ginkgo tree will tell

the next sentient species

about the fall of humanity.

No bias, no lies.

It will tell of the blinding white light

and a heat hotter than the sun.

It will tell of flesh hanging off

fingertips like torn gauze, of the dead

crawling to the river in one last act

of prayer.

Of how the river blistered

the throat, of how humans wept

for the black rain to soothe their burns.

It will tell of a time where the dead

were the lucky ones.

This ancient tree, encased

in its own mutated bark

like a prisoner of war,

scorch marks

and scars over its knobs

like my war veteran grandfather,

will not weep for humanity.

The ginkgo tree will not see

its luck in surviving.