The morning, silent and still,
betrayed the overwhelming
fact that a bomb
had gone off,
leaving those who planned

for this ominous event, for
years, and those who were
caught, after years
of complacency
and self-denial, to marvel
at its occurrence and to plot

the contours of the shadow
that the plume of this
destruction
would have
on future years.

As a dinosaur must have said
whilst viewing the meteor
hurtling to
an innocent earth:
“How the hell will this work out?”

How in the hell indeed.