Iced-over streets and basement doors Below forbidden upper floors You’d hide beneath the seats to catch A lecture by Niels Bohr.
For a short time between two wars You got to fight for what was yours: Colloquia with quantum themes, A friendly physics corps.
Converting mass and energy, Fission knocks electrons free; Uranium as effigy, Decay for all eternity. Dividing atoms expertly, Chain reactions must proceed. Explosions at sea; Lise you must hate your fate, Your legacy was twice erased.
With correspondence from abroad, In pen you tore down old facades. You split an atom like a drop And opened realms of thought.
Mass times squared velocity Of light defines stored energy. You must get out of Germany, Because of your identity. Doubled jeopardy; An empty life is misery. Explosions at sea; Lise let me hate your fate Your legacy was twice erased.
You came to hate the things they built With the uranium they split. Your contribution was effaced Without a hint of guilt.