"The Horror" - Bahamas AI Art
ⒸA. Derek Catalano
Who Pushed the Button
We built the bombs to keep the peace—
as if extinction was a shield,
as if the threat of total death
could keep the battlefield sealed.
Steel death we worshipped underground,
wired for silence, not for sound,
stacked neatly in their silver tombs—
our faith misplaced in lethal rooms.
We told ourselves it kept us safe,
this balance born of mutual fear.
A thousand warheads humming deep
in silos far and near.
Each one a god, asleep but armed,
a curse disguised as charm,
a guardian that held its breath
to keep us balanced close to death.
But how could peace be built on edge,
on trembling hands at history’s ledge?
We had the codes. We drew the lines.
We played with fire. We mined the mines.
Bombs for the East, bombs for the West,
bombs for the ones who claimed they’d bless
the Earth with order, law, and pride—
a genocide all justified.
