"If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth..."

"If I Forget Thee, O Earth" is a post-apocalyptic fiction short story by English writer Arthur C. Clarke and first published in 1951 in the magazine Future SF. It was subsequently published as part of a short story collection in Expedition to Earth (1953). The title is taken from Psalm 137:5—"If I forget thee, O Jerusalem"—which consists of the writer lamenting over the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonian army. The themes in the story exploit the anxieties prevalent at the time regarding nuclear warfare.