Poem of William Hermanns

             State, Goodbye
 
Oh electronic smog,
pervading eyes and ears and breath,
the scientist who serves our state
prepares an unborn's death.

Shall his amoral mind be cursed,
or a woman's yearning for a child?
Or is the army's mind the culprit?
Its air conspiracy flies wild.

"Electromagnetic waves are safe,"
announce its fabricating mints.
Yet rays leaves marks in living cells
as crime leaves more than fingerprints.

Oh treason of power, your make-believe!
Benign depictions of a deadly mist
that hangs over our human breath!
Is there no honest scientist?

Oh Mother Earth, what do you feel
about cancerous spread of microwaves?
"I soon will drape myself in black;
your dead get radioactive graves."

Who then deserves man's curse? You, State!
You say, "My land I must defend."
Your land belongs to Mother Earth
and she still feels Hiroshima's end.
 
This lingering death of secret wonders
of the human body, you prepared!
History's wheel turns around, around.
Our youth shall not be spared.

Youth, tremble if you work in plants
to arm State's military claws.
Your gold cash will be smeared with blood —
there are still cosmic laws.

                                  William Hermanns      [P294]