Threads

I’ve been blinded by a blistering light
An atomic angel in the nuclear night
Have they come to take us away at last?
Have they come to punish us for the past?
 
Let me just hold on
Hold on to these few threads
“Papa, can we bring them
Till we get back home again?”
 
I’m here in the wilderness with my kin
A makeshift shelter from sticks so thin
The kids are asleep so I cradle the gin
Alone in the reeds with secretions and sin
 
When morning comes like an atomic cloud
When hard truths assault you like bombs so 
loud
Whatever happened to once make you proud
Will be crucified like the Face in the Shroud
 
Let me just hold on
Hold on to these few threads
“Mama, can we bring them
Till we get back home again?”

Mother and infant, both hopelessly yearning 
Scraps of subsistence ‘mid garbage cans burning 
Walk up close to them, their cart full of waste
Permanent Babylon — no figure chaste  

Now does the sex of the child much matter?
Will its birthday letters be seen ever after,
From up on some small planet’s observing post
Its tiny embryonic, cancerous host?

I’ve been blinded by a ruinous light
A ballistic angel in the wintry night
Have they come to take us away at last?
Have they come to punish us for the past?
 
Let me just hold on
Hold on to these few threads
“Papa, can we bring them
Till we get back home again?”

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