Chernobyl Poem by Laurence Overmire

Pravda:
Two dead at Chernobyl.
No need to worry.
All is under control.

And the air deceives...

Life goes on
under sunny skies
in unsuspecting Kiev.

Thousands dead! Thousands flee!
screams the raving West
but who can say for sure?

And the rain runs red...

Life goes on
in the green Ukraine
oblivious
to the noise that has no sound
and the smoke that has no fire.

In a forest of silence
a seed will fall
to sprout from the deadly ground
hideous vines that choke the earth
and swallow the flowers that hide in the grass.

Pravda.
Truth.
All is under control.

What serpents await our Adam and Eve
When the truth becomes a lie?


(Previously published in Wired Art from Wired Hearts, Oct - Nov, '99)