A cataclysmic boom and momentous flash,
The detonation of a nuclear bomb,
Seemingly done without a qualm,
Fills the air with a white fine ash.
Echoing is an endless boom,
Little survives the awesome blast,
Only a few witnesses last,
The earth is like an empty room.
What power that is, like the sun.
That’s a move we should shun.
Someone will ask what we have done.
For, in conclusion, no one has won,
A material zeitgeist has limited fun.
This is not a hit-and-run.
Francis Conlon is a retired and recovering teacher. For the past 20 years, he has worked as a seasonal river ranger and boat inspector at Yampa River State Park in northwest Colorado. He has published in the local Valley Voice and in Westward Quarterly. He currently lives in Salt Lake City, Utah.