Ruth Benedict - At Ending

[the-grynne.livejournal.com]

AT ENDING

At ending when the world is done
And the dead air lets fall the ash
Upon the blackened plain no flash
Shall light henceforth forever, none
Of all the wandering breezes kiss
Again to loveliness like this -

There shall be silence always. Riven,
Infertile, charred as any star
Thick-sown at evening, they are
That were mythology of heaven
To our sight: arbutus bed,
And the dark pines, thick-carpeted.

And down the burnt-out air shall come
No hurt upon the night, no cry
Our hearts must stir to satisfy,
No portent of delirium;
A god that kinder, being death,
Set limit to this folly, breath.


RUTH BENEDICT