<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">A Song on the End of the World</div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: normal;" class="">On the day the world ends</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: normal;" class="">A bee circles a clover,</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: normal;" class="">A fisherman mends a glimmering net.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: normal;" class="">Happy porpoises jump in the sea,</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: normal;" class="">By the rainspout young sparrows are playing</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: normal;" class="">And the snake is gold-skinned as it should always be.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: normal;" class="">On the day the world ends</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: normal;" class="">Women walk through the fields under their umbrellas,</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: normal;" class="">A drunkard grows sleepy at the edge of a lawn,</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: normal;" class="">Vegetable peddlers shout in the street</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: normal;" class="">And a yellow-sailed boat comes nearer the island,</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: normal;" class="">The voice of a violin lasts in the air</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: normal;" class="">And leads into a starry night.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: normal;" class="">And those who expected lightning and thunder</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: normal;" class="">Are disappointed.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: normal;" class="">And those who expected signs and archangels’ trumps</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: normal;" class="">Do not believe it is happening now.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: normal;" class="">As long as the sun and the moon are above,</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: normal;" class="">As long as the bumblebee visits a rose,</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: normal;" class="">As long as rosy infants are born</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: normal;" class="">No one believes it is happening now.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: normal;" class="">Only a white-haired old man, who would be a prophet</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: normal;" class="">Yet is not a prophet, for he’s much too busy,</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: normal;" class="">Repeats while he binds his tomatoes:</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: normal;" class="">There will be no other end of the world,</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: normal;" class="">There will be no other end of the world.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: normal;" class="">Warsaw, 1944</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Czeslaw Milosz</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>(translated by Anthony Milosz)</p><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">"There are those who are trying to set fire to the world,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">we are in danger,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">there is time only to work slowly,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">there is no time not to love.”</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""> - Deena Metzger </div></div><div class=""><br class=""></div></body></html>