On the floor of the Okinawa trench
the ancestral lizard known as
Godzilla seeks revenge above his head,
traveling upward to break the surface
of the ocean, the scene of past battles,
and renewing panics of old.
Each new generation needs his
supreme challenge and, by their dreams,
they revive him to serve as a target
for their shows of power.
The Japanese Navy has been reborn
for this moment and waits, searching
for appropriate ammunition to unleash
their sailors’ bushido spirit,
a metaphysical katana
slashing at the impossible.
Godzilla meets their challenge atop the ocean.
He recognizes that Japan’s warriors consider
the self-delusion of huge courage
as the real lethal weapon they wield.
Godzilla considers it no more powerful than air.
Next, he contests with their American allies
who have their own code and
their high-tech melee weapons.
Godzilla sees the strength of their teamwork
and the weakness of their arrogance.
He pushes their destroyer boat into
their aircraft carrier, making the destroyer
into a torpedo and seizing victory with
his elemental strength and imperviousness.
But, somehow, victory is only temporary
as the King of the Monsters is overthrown
with a new technology generated
from a small science boat that broadcasts
biological dampening rays into the ocean.
And so Godzilla sinks below the waves
in a state of suspended animation,
leaving the conflict for a later day,
when the weapons have changed
and the human dreams of power have not.
What the warriors training above cannot imagine
is that he hears their dreams,
and that he dreams, too. Nor do they understand
that he looks forward to the next contest,
though in the end he will let them win, as always.
Let them continue practicing for war.
The games must go on.
