If asked for wisdom, his guidance was sage
He tried his best to do no person wrong
He was just the man that built the bomb
Top of his class, best at school
Never unkind, never the fool
He learned his trade with great aplomb
He was just the man that built the bomb
He uncovered ideas never seen before
Then pulled at threads, uncovered more
He could sing the most beautiful song
He was just the man that built the bomb
Without him, the bomb could not exist
Without his genius or need to persist
He could have stopped, he should have known
What would happen when the bomb was blown
And now he speaks in whispered tones
His eyes don't sparkle, now he's been shown
The true cost of knowing all there is to know
Of going where humans should not go
He now remains eternal in the field he sewed
Wondering the cost of the reaping he owed
He tried his best to do no person wrong
He was just the man that built the bomb
I've been reading about the scientists who built the atomic bomb. It's been fascinating, and very haunting. They seem like cultured people, wickedly smart, but having to wrestle with what their knowledge helped build. I don't think many of them could actually have dropped the bomb themselves, but that doesn't matter. Robert J. Oppenheimer's speech is probably the most poignant example of this, but I found this discussion between German scientists upon hearing the news of Hiroshima also very revealing. There is the balance of personal academic pride, moral uncertainty, and disbelief on all fronts.
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