I thought you would’ve learned–
all of you at Los Alamos,
and the rest of you
all over the world.

why was my story saved?
why is it told and retold
if not for that?

do you see in it
just a lesson in ingenuity?

were you as blind to the deaths
of those 14 Athenians
year after year
as you were to the 140,000 Japanese
years
after year–

of course I tried to destroy it
but I couldn’t get close enough!
they had taken away my security clearance
and it was too well-guarded!

then I tried to amend
(to amend– how could i?)
I saved Theseus and the others
one year
(one year!)

DOES IT MEAN NOTHING TO YOU?
the same government I helped, then–
I was of no further use, then–
I was a threat then–



so when they come to you
with money, for research and a lab
with anthems
with arguments, about the lesser of two evils
with threats
please–
say to them
no
it cannot be done.

__
Daedalus was a great inventor, asked by King Minos to build a labyrinth in which the Minotaur would live–and in which seven young men and seven young women from Athens would be left to die each year, unable to find their way out. One year Daedalus helped the youths escape; for this he was punished by the King, who left him and his son in the labyrinth of his own making. They escaped, using wings Daedalus created, but Icarus (his son) flew too near the sun, the wax of the wings melted, and he fell to his death.

The reference to the Japanese is a reference to Hiroshima: it is estimated that initially 70,000 were killed and 70,000 injured; subsequently (and consequently) another 140,000 have died.

__
[More like this in UnMythed, available for download (at no charge) at chriswind.net]