* The verses after 5th are English versions or original language versions, collected from NEGAI Connection members and their students from the world. If it is a translation , sometimes it may not harmonize with the melody.

761. Well, that little girl got better and when her mother took her to the
ballpark, storm clouds started to form.
Slowly, you could smell the rain. The daughter smiled, looked up at her
mother, and said, "I know that smell!" The mother replied, "Yes, it' s the smell of rain."
(Jillian Barron Illinois International School USA March 22 2007)

762."No, mommy! That's the smell when you put your hand on God's chest."
The little girl went off skipping and the mother realized that through those
five months, God had held her little girl when she wasn't able to do. So,
now whenever I smell the rain, I realize that someone is watching over me
and it brings a new hope into my life.
(Jillian Barron Illinois International School USA March 22 2007)

A HOPEFUL PLACE by Kenzie Cook

763. When I think of hope or peace, I think of a poem that was written by
William Wordsworth. It is called,
"I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud"
(Kenzie Cook Illinois International School USA March 23 2007)

764. I wandered lonely as a cloud,
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
(Kenzie Cook Illinois International School USA March 23 2007)

765. Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay.
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
(Kenzie Cook Illinois International School USA March 23 2007)

766. The waves beside them danced; but they
Out did the sparkling waves in glee.
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company.
(Kenzie Cook Illinois International School USA March 23 2007)

767. I gazed and gazed but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
(Kenzie Cook Illinois International School USA March 23 2007)

768. They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
(Kenzie Cook Illinois International School USA March 23 2007)

769. This poem doesn’t really say peace or hope in it, but it doesn’t have to.
When I read this poem it makes me calm, and I just lose
myself in a field of flowers, white and that are so soft that it
feels like you are floating and they are so tall that they hide you
from the outside world.
(Kenzie Cook Illinois International School USA March 23 2007)

770. It is very hard to be calm in the daily life in America, but if we
all just talk a moment and breathe or look at the stars once in
awhile, we too can be lost in a field of daffodils.
(Kenzie Cook Illinois International School USA March 23 2007)

771. Dear Victim,
I am a United States citizen. I have no worries.
Dear Victim,
I have never had to experience war. I know what I see on the news, not what you see from your window.
What do you go through each day? I do not know.
(Amber Parker Illinois International School USA March 23 2007)

772. Dear Victim,
When it comes to war, I am quite innocent. I cannot tell you everything will be all right because I do not know.
I don't know when the soldiers will leave. I don't know when the gunshots
will cease. I can’t tell you everyone will live through tomorrow.
(Amber Parker Illinois International School USA March 23 2007)

773. Dear Victim,
I try to feel your pain.
I try to avoid you by donating the canned goods I will never eat,
but somehow I do not think that is enough.
(Amber Parker Illinois International School USA March 23 2007)

774. Dear Victim,
All I know is that this war will end. All wars end.
All I know is that you are a survivor, a hero to those of us who probably will never experience war.
Dear Hero,
I just don’t know.
(Amber Parker Illinois International School USA March 23 2007)

775. Many years ago in Hiroshima
There lived a girl.
A girl who is going to be 3 years old soon.
On the morning of August 6, 1945
Her face was lit with a smile.
(Julia Gillespie Illinois International School USA March 24 2007)

776. It was just a single smile, but …
In an instant the whole city was brightened.
In an instant, it had doubled with smiles.
Though the sky was burning as a flame,
Survivors were wandering around, sad but hopeful.
(Julia Gillespie Illinois International School USA March 24 2007)

777. Black rain continued pouring upon them.
The girl stood, filled with hope
With a smile on her face,
She wanted more, asking, "Machinto … Machinto."
(Julia Gillespie Illinois International School USA March 24 2007)

778. "Wait here for a while, I'll go find hope for you,"
her mother said and left to find hope.
But there was little hope in the burned-down city.
Just one … Just one is a start … hope … smile.
(Julia Gillespie Illinois International School USA March 24 2007)

779. Finally, hope was found and she ran to the little girl who was found already dead.
She died repeating, "Machinto, Machinto … hope … smiles."
I hear the little girl died and became a bird in the sky.
And even now, the bird carries hope crying, "Machinto … Machinto."
(Julia Gillespie Illinois International School USA March 24 2007)

780. The story Machinto upset me greatly.
It brought up continuous thoughts of war and death, pain and suffering, and how it was all pointless.
I was horrified to learn that Hiroshima was bombed just because the United States had the power to do so.
(Sara Jamison Illinois International School USA March 28 2007)