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