Mayday In Kiev (Watchtower)

"The unleashed power of the atom changed everything save our mode of thinking, and we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophes." In a nation for a dangerous penchant for secrecy A dread disaster at Chernobyl was concealed As a poisoning cloud spread over the Eastern Bloc Alarming information was reluctantly revealed An explosion in Reactor Four - a fire refusing to cease No containment walls preventing radioactive release Evidence that peaceful technology had gone awry More catastrophically than Windscale or TMI Alert - Celebration in Kiev Under glowing skies - Soviet lies Alert - In nearby Poland A shower of radiation Children iodized Mayday - A day of rejoice A cry of distress Severe political fallout - toxic exchange of words Soviet obscurantism under verbal attack Abroad, outraged countries appeal for information Met with grudging riposte, hesitant placation At home, TASS reports no danger - nothing to fear As deadly elemental isotopes spew into the biosphere "The unleashed power of the atom..." - A warning from the past The benefits of technology are reversed by careless human error Science, once a saviour, now an effective destroyer We must apply our knowledge with care Entombed in concrete, Chernobyl will forever remain A monument to the chilling effects of negligence