I wrote this poem almost 30 years ago as part of a book which used atomic fire as the metaphor for the evolution of consciousness. The book has a rather long, snobbish, unwieldy title:
PSALMS BEYOND THE SPEED OF LIGHT
VARIATIONS ON THE MYTH OF ZEUS AND SEMELE
POETRY FOR THE ATOMIC AGE
The last poem in the book:
"Uranium 235: What God Said"
is below the infinity symbol.
URANIUM 235 -- WHAT GOD SAID
What they remember is the light
Those scientists in the desert night
Ghostly iridescence, unearthly light
No color, merely shades of white.
Trinity Test at Alomogordo
Three .. Two .. One .. Zero
Instantly into the still, dark land
The light grew over the sand
Galactic secrets in the predawn night
Galactic secrets in atomic rite
And the light grew
Brighter than the light of twenty noons
And still it grew
An x-ray of the testing crew.
Trinity Test at Alamogordo
Three…Two…One…Zero
Shiva Yahweh Buddha Zeus
Humanity with its head in the noose
Glimpsed its form as god.
When the light subsided and the shadows rose
Some, returning from that light,
Tried to live again as merely human
But others, those few
Unable to deny or to return
Knew we had become as gods in power
And could not turn again.
We have the power that once was god’s
Shiva’s power, the power of fire
The power to turn this earth into a star
The power of Zeus’ lightening rod
To incinerate the earth maiden, his bride.
She remembered a small sharp silent light
Before blackness turned day to night
Then woke as in a dream
Her mother, swirled in smoke
Framed by the lintel
Standing, arms outstretched
Hair raised skyward
On winds of fire
Like a protecting goddess
Burned to pure white bone.
The bombardier who guided the Enola Gay
The last two minutes on her way
Who eyed the Aioi Bridge in his sight
He too remembers the light
All who have seen it remember the light
And the rainbow sparkling cloud that follows…
Earth the maiden asked her bridegroom
To appear before her in his form as god
And the god of lightening rose on earth
In the light of twenty suns.
Pastels and crystals pastels and dreams
I can no more separate myself from dreams
Than I can separate myself from you
It is the dream that keeps reality alive
In these suicidal days
Luminous fission in my brain
Evolution and love in my heart…
******
By Sydney Vilen ~~~ on the 40th anniversary of the bombing!