Atom's Nightmare Poem by viacheslav kupriyanov

The atom sleeps furiously at the edge of its microworld
Lulled by its pluses and minuses
It dreams of
A panicked flight of electrons
Reminiscent of the way wise brains drain
Towards easy money
The atom is scared
As if it were losing its atomic weight
On the verge of the total collapse of all elements
Precipitating absolute darkness
It dreams of
Being trapped in the amber of the universe
Like a bee no longer making honey
It dreams of the revolt of the critical mass
Against any personality
That disagrees with the deadweight of inertial masses
It dreams of a frightened pure atomic bomb
Dropped by a lonely hydrogen atom
On the pallid periodic table of elements

Translated from Russian by Dmitri Manin