How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #1
Did they hold ceremonies
to reverence the opening of buds? (3-4)
You can't get much more innocent than celebrating a flower bud opening. The type of people who celebrate flowers probably hold nature in great reverence—and definitely don't want to see it destroyed. Even if the speaker is referring to a stereotype about the people of Vietnam, it still reinforces the idea that the people were not inclined to violence, but rather to peace.
Quote #2
Perhaps they gathered once to delight in blossom,
but after their children were killed
there were no more buds. (13-15)
Children, being innocent, are presented as the worst casualty of this war. Their deaths result in no more celebrations, no more new life. Levertov uses flowers as symbols for children throughout the poem; now, there are no more flowers. The people of Vietnam lost the children's innocence and, what's even a bigger bummer, any hope of new life—forever.
Quote #3
[...] Remember,
most were peasants; their life
was in rice and bamboo. (19-21)
Most of the people were poor, the second speaker reminds us, and so lived simply based on their need to survive. They farmed rice and bamboo. They didn't ask for the destruction; these peasants were guilty of no war crimes. As farmers, they were innocent casualties of political conflict.