Czeslaw Milosz: 1911 – 2004
Born in Seteiniai, Lithuania he made his literary debut in 1930. Among the many honors accorded to his work, The Nobel Prize in Literature in 1980. His works include Poetry and Prose. During the 1960s he served as Professor of Slavic Languages and Literature at University California Berkeley.
Song on the End of the World
On the day the world ends
A bee circles a clover
A Fisherman mends a glimmering net.
Happy porpoises jump in the sea,
By the rainspout young sparrows are playing
And the snake is gold-skinned as it should always be
On the day the world ends
Women walk through fields under their umbrellas
A drunkard grows sleepy at the edge of a lawn
Vegetable peddlers shout in the street
And a yellow-sailed boat comes nearer the island.
The voice of a violin lasts in the air
And leads into a starry night
And those who expected lightning and thunder
Are disappointed
And those who expected signs and archangels’ trumps
Do not believe it is happening now
Only a white-haired old man who would be a prophet
Yet is not a prophet for he’s much too busy
Repeats while he binds his tomatoes
No other end of the world there will be
No other end of the world there will be
– Chezlaw Milosz
If you are unfamiliar with his work, I do hope you will enjoy this poem and search for more. Perhaps you would prefer his prose. There is a vast number of his works I could choose from but thought this was so timely in light of Global Warming.
Bisous,
Léa
poetry, photos and musings oh my! 