We’ve come this far, too far.
Far too far to know the peace of mind that pervades
Lesser existences.
Thank you Doctor.

We’ve used it,
You made it,
We fear it.
We fear our own need of it.

We hide behind it, shelter it,
Daring not to use it.
(But it has been used.)
It has been tested,
It has been proven,
It has been placed on the pedestal,
It is great, a great achievement for
Man.

It speaks the bible of a newer generation.
It speaks of peace and love and unity amongst nations,
Unity amongst, peoples,
But not of trust.

It sings its wailing songs as Antichrists have sung before,
But its choirs grow and grow.
Daily we eat the bread and read the papers,
We listen to the songs.
Helplessly, listen to the songs,
But dare not use your god.

Thank you, Doctor.

For the epitome of this civilization,
For that for which there is no equal on this earth,
Thank you, Doctor.

Doctor, the god of your creation now reigns supreme,
Unquestioned. Unchallenged.
Our taxes are tithes to your god.
While millions remain unclothed,
Unbathed, unfed, unloved.
The expendable masses,
Fodder to your god.

We see those masses align the streets,
Surviving the tortures of a life of famine,
Surviving injustice,
Yet carrying a spirit
That we can have no part of.

Derisions cannot help.
There is one thing that can help.

You have given us the way out,
The means to an end.

Our end.

Your end to all oppression, famine,
Inequality, and injustice.

Thank you Doctor Oppenheimer.
You are a great and wonderful man.

I heard your speech,
I know your guilt and feeling.
Your recompense was brave,
But your contribution wonderful.
Thank you, Doctor.

A steel frame,
No use to him on stairs.

Dead legs,
Flourishing ambition.

Excruciating steps,
Filled with a determination
Unmet in ordinary men.
Step by step,
Up the stairs.

Worried mama,
Too weak to help,
Too stubborn not to.
Helpless mama,
Sympathetic to her baby man,
Who wanted no sympathy.

He climbed the stairs,
In a tumult of success.

He struggled his way to the door,
Frame still supporting the body,
Where the legs would not,
And knocked on the door.

There was nobody home.

He turned to face the perilous descent,
The stairs again.
All he could say was:
“That’s life mama.”

All she could do was cry.

A great and mysterious wall surrounds and pervades
A race and a people and a heritage, who would seek
To protect that heritage from an influence of an age
Giving little regard to heritages, races, or peoples
Other than their own.

People have forgotten the heritage that
Makes a people a people, a race a race
And a planet a planet.

People have forgotten that
They are on a planet.

Just one planet.

Only earth.