THE GAP CLOSES

Posted by Admin on 2 April 2009, 12:00 am

At billiards in a village club,
some one and forty years ago,
I heard that, half a world away,
a new and terrible device,
an aerial atom bomb, had wrought
such widespread devastation as
no other war had seen.
And I recall that, mingled with
relief that this must end the strife,
I felt, not sympathy for those
who died, but fear that some
event inimical to all
had taken place – a singular
reaction I could not at once
define, but one which marred my joy
in victory.
Now Chernobyl, afar yet near
when classed with Hiroshima or
with Nagasaki, has expelled a foul
malignance even to our shores –
an evil far beyond the scope
of medical resource, from which
innumerable Russians must
inevitably perish – thus
a confirmation justifies
my first reaction – poses now
the vital question, ‘Just how long,
or rather, short a time for us
is left – how much for all Humanity?’