The unleashed power of the atom changed everything save our mode of thinking, and we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophes. In a nation for a dangerous penchant for secrecy A dread disaster at Chernobyl was concealed As a poisoning cloud spread over the Eastern Bloc Alarming information was reluctantly revealed An explosion in Reactor Four a fire refusing to cease No containment walls preventing radioactive release Evidence that peaceful technology had gone awry More catastrophically than Windscale or TMI Alert Celebration in Kiev Under glowing skies Soviet lies Alert In nearby Poland A shower of radiation Children iodized Mayday A day of rejoice A cry of distress Severe political fallout toxic exchange of words Soviet obscurantism under verbal attack Abroad, outraged countries appeal for information Met with grudging riposte, hesitant placation At home, TASS reports no danger nothing to fear As deadly elemental isotopes spew into the biosphere The unleashed power of the atom... A warning from the past The benefits of technology are reversed by careless human error Science, once a saviour, now an effective destroyer We must apply our knowledge with care Entombed in concrete, Chernobyl will forever remain A monument to the chilling effects of negligence
chernobyl, soviet, alert, atom, information