New Mexico Mercury

Day One
the big bomb to win
the war of wars, the big
one, how many times
do you think, Doctor?
The Army wants to know!

Dr. Oppenheimer says he knows
the gadget will work and be one
big blast (in his doctoral
opinion), a dud would not win
us anything, we need more time
to develop a device that’s big

enough to blast a whole city, the biggest
bomb yet. No one says no.
The lure of the times
of mastering physics, one
more secret revealed to stroke and win
our American egos, scientists being doctors

of chemistry, mathematics and physics, doctors
of humanity, push forward to big
revelations, patriotic to win
against Nazi Germany, to know
they are helping the war effort, one
time for them to go down in history, time

to do something at Los Alamos. Timeless
beauty surrounds the doctors
in sky and pines, the mountains the one
source of exclusive secrecy, so big
no outsider knows what’s on the Hill, no
leaks on the big day when the test wins

blast out at Trinity.  The crew cheers, we win
our intellectual battle of energy and time.
Now the Army takes ownership, knows
we have leverage to bomb the Japs, Dr.
Oppenheimer has done his job, big
plans to drop the device within one

week to win the war. The newspapers now know
America counts one sole time victory.
No more big secrets, Doctor how do you feel?