Now I am become death

Heavy on my mind they weigh.

I was fine, but now I’m lost.

Now I am become death today.

How soon to come I cannot say.

Destroyer of Worlds is the cost.

Heavy on my mind they weigh.

Most were silent, faces gray.

Laughing not, the hope exhaust.

Now I am become death today.

Cities tumbling, now I pray.

Silent voices, people tossed.

Heavy on my mind they weigh.

Vishnu gazing at the bay.

Faces sprinkled in frost.

Now I am become death today.

Under a burning sky I lay.

Of my thoughts it certainly crossed.

Heavy on my mind they weigh,

Now I am become death today.

“A few people laughed, a few people cried. Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita; Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and, to impress him, takes on his multi-armed form and says, 'Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.’” -J. Robert Oppenheimer