Delta Breeze

The delta breeze comes through at night

The AQI falls back to red

So I walk west on the San Joaquin

While my mind heads east instead

It’s 1 AM in Silver Spring

Air as clear as fresh cut glass

Senators asleep at home

Lobbyists awake with staff

But right now I can see for miles

The plumes emerge north of Merced

Silhouetted by the moon

And hovering above my head

Tomorrow I’ll go back to work

At the labs in Livermore

Calculating missiles paths

As they’ll arc from Vandenberg

There was a time that I believed in mutual assurance

As a way to keep inferno well in hand

But now the track runs parallel, without any deterrence

And the traces of betrayal over land

The delta breeze comes through at night

Lowering the AQI

So I walk along the San Joaquin

And travel east along my mind