Wednesday, May 23, 2012

In the Bunker

When I think of the outside world
My skin crawls with fear
But the walls here are sturdy
Dug in deep, made of steel
The outside world burns
Hotter than the fires of hell
With their disease and moral decay
As their suicide is earned
I've no need to worry
I am inside my shell
Far far away
They can all die
I am never going out there again
My world is here
Hidden inside
Where no one goes
But me

“Forget the suffering
You caused others.
Forget the suffering
Others caused you.
The waters run and run,
Springs sparkle and are done,
You walk the earth you are forgetting.

Sometimes you hear a distant refrain.
What does it mean, you ask, who is singing?
A childlike sun grows warm.
A grandson and a great-grandson are born.
You are led by the hand once again.

The names of the rivers remain with you.
How endless those rivers seem!
Your fields lie fallow,
The city towers are not as they were.
You stand at the threshold mute.”
Czesław Miłosz