In my heart
For hate
A small man
Of no small mass
A big heart
A wise soul
Both worn
Close to the surface
A time before
The Clean Air Act of 1970
The Environmental Protection Agency
Which gave the Act bite
And enforced its many regulations
I am reminded of that time
When I travel to countries
Which ignore the science
Or have no political will
To preserve the Earth
Which sustains us
If I could learn to love myself
Completely
I would no longer want to hate
That kind of inner light is
Impenetrable
Even to hate’s formidable darkness
And the tunnel
Is only the sum of my fears
Confining me
When the flash came
Night became a day like no other
Just several seconds long
With the intensity of a hundred suns
When the flash came
I was happy not to be in a doorway
As I watched the paint sizzle
In the nuclear sunlight
Police stations
And hospitals
Apartment buildings
And condemned spaces
Secret headquarters
And schools of magic
The light is soft
Though harsh
Streaming in
Through doors
All open
On the right
An inviting light
Nonetheless too bright
And as I tread
Ever-so-gingerly
Down the corridor
Three times
A pair of runners
Find the frame
One time coming
One time going
And one time
In a fractured flash
As they pass before me