The USS Thresher - In Memoriam

I wrote this sonnet a few years back to memorialize the loss of the USS Thresher, a fast-attack submarine, with its 129-crew onboard, on April 10, 1963.

Sonnet #92 - Thresher (In Memoriam)

I just learned the minimum time required
for human perception of an event:
fifty milliseconds for retinal
integration; 100 milliseconds
for cognitive integration. On board, 
it all occurred too fast for awareness,
too quickly for human apprehension.
A tragedy befell us - a collapse
of moral order - it hit us so fast
we couldn’t integrate it with our eyes,
with streaming thoughts about our empty thoughts.
A poem, perhaps, condensed, distilled the track
of every hope - and woe - that passed too soon
for our perception - slow-motioned, closely read.