I am become Death - An Ode to Oppie

Inspired by the Trinity Test and J. Robert Oppenheimer.

 

 

 

At Jornada Del Muerto

stood a tiny little man.

Who took a thousand suns

straight from God’s right hand.

He invoked the Bhagavad-Gita

and began a holocaust.

Conceiving Little Boy and Fat Man,

and with “It worked”, innocence lost.

 

 

 

Author's Note

According to witnesses "It worked" was Oppenheimer's verbal response at the success of the atomic bomb "Trinity Test" . He later expressed his thoughts and remorse by quoting the Bhagavad-Gita "I am become Death...."

Reviews

[DavidRyan]

Heart breaking and brilliantly written. I love the line "and with 'it worked' innocence lost." Odd how we decide to use our technology and intelligence for doing bad mostly. Or, not even bad, but completely mundane things -- which turns into something bad in the end. One of these days, the end will come, and we will have the chance to start over again and not f**k it up quite as bad as we have this time around.

[Dianah]

I loved this. It has a haunting quality. I cannot imagine what he must have felt like. I have written a poem about this test too called 'Trinity'. It is quite different but you may be interested.

[S.S.P.]

Genius might be the ability to say a profound thing in a simple way.
Charles Bukowski ... loved it.