The Nuclear Explosion

Night it was, I went to bed,

The soft pillow greeted my head.

And as I slept, I sunk in deep

Into the comforting pool of sleep.

I really don't know what happened then:

Midnight hour the clock had struck when;

Confused I am but also tempt'd

To believe that I had dreamt.

A horrible night it was

And now I shall narrate the cause-

As I was asleep, in my head

I heard the sound I would ever dread.

It was one blast but seemed like hundred,

I wondered how many would've been dead.

I was mistaken to think it was all;

Soon I realized- it was but a warning call!

Several explosions followed,

I was as dumbstruck as a toad.

The most massive one I did not hear

For into shreds my eardrums it did tear!

Out of the window I gazed in horror,

I bet in everyone's heart there was terror.

A mushroom-shaped cloud arose;

In my veins the blood froze.

To close my eyes I didn't dare

As I saw everything incinerate into thin air!

The massive Earth trembled violently

While I kept watching silently.

The victorious smoke mockingly did touch

The heavenly sky birds loved so much.

The smoke from the ground cleared,

Revealing to me what I feared.

Was it a time machine, taking

Us back to centuries before our making?

There was no life: only barren crust-

Years of development, brought down to dust.

I stood by my window rooted to the spot,

While Time in full speed shot;

And as I glanced through years

I could not hold back my tears.

For I saw, as an effect of the bombs-

Maimed children in mothers' wombs.

I saw pain, cries and suffering leak

As blood from the scar on Time's cheek.

The tears burning my cheeks were hot 

But it was only one thing I thought:

"Was it the Devil's curse?

"Was it Hiroshima, or something worse?"

--R. Ranjan