David Wirsig White Flash
gone, gone the days
we'd sit outside and watch the weathervane
gone the smell of summer rain
gone the midnight drives and passing trains
gone, gone the nights
when we would lay and dream of another life
a golden child, a scarlet wife
would turn to dust, the same, when the end arrived
we were scared of the days to come
we could only hope our fear would make us numb
but when you smiled, did it feel so wrong?
beneath the blown out husk of an atom bomb
it won't be quite so bad when it finally comes
it's just a bright, white flash and then it's gone
before the lights go out for good
before the flash consumes us whole
a crack on the horizon grows
and opens up its blinding jaws
before the lights go out for good
before the flash consumes us whole
before we boil in its embrace
I gaze across your freckled face
and your sweat beads in every pore
as our shadows flee across the floor
and fire fills your frightened eyes
as the groaning glow intensifies
and your features shine in sharp relief
your soul exposed in a moment brief
your fears and your hopes and your memories
the one I was always meant to see