De Nieuwe Stem. Jaargang 17

[p. 417]

Bart Landheer
The atombomb
(To whom it may concern)

When the Greeks found out the atom,
They could not yet fathom
What a nasty thing it was.

To them is was just small and nice,
Almost like a grain of rice,
And not like a big potato.

It was the West which did its best,
And the thing became a pest,
Even if it runs an engine.

And now we ask - it's no small task -
How do we put it in the cask
Where it belongs.

Can we forget what we have found,
Just because it isn't sound,
Or will it go destroy us?

If you and you and you and you,
Would do, what I shall try to do,
We shall forget it in a year.

Just take the mirror, and then say:
It's I, it's you, it's he or she: Nay,
It is plain everybody.

That would be quite enough.