"I."

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"I am wandering at the karasiga tree

And the wind from Tokalau blows quietly;

Its waves blossom against the shore.

I begin the forms of the dance.

The scent of the makita rises.

You cast down the short coconuts,

They fall to earth and you spin them.

Call your child to pick them up.

I grasp a nut and tear off the husk.

Let us return again to the rear,

To enter into the woven house

And offer up The Soaring-Dart.

Let the noise of the clapping resound."

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first stanza from five stanza poem, "THE SOARING-DART" / (Fiji) / one of the poems found in, "Technicians of the Sacred / A Range of Poetries from Africa, America, Asia & Oceania" / edited with commentaries by Jerome Rothenberg / Anchor Books / Doubleday & Company, Inc., / Garden City / New York

Thanks for Kalala Valley and the Na Pali Coast slideshow. The Kalala Valley and the Na Pali Coast slideshow is wonderful.

A Song on the End of the World

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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.

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On the day the world ends

Women walk through the 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.

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And those who expected lightning and thunder

are disappointed.

And those who expected signs and archangels' trumps

Do not believe it is happening now.

As long as the sun and the moon are above,

As long as the bumblebee visits a rose,

As long as rosy infants are born

No one believes it is happening now.

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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:

There will be no other end of the world,

There will be no other end of the world.

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Warsaw, 1944

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Czeslaw Milosz

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"A Song on the End of the World" / one of the poems in, "NEW AND COLLECTED POEMS: 1931---2001 / Czeslaw Milosz"

Mikey, It is just too cool what you guys are doing.I have enjoyed all the pictures and blogs. You guys need to write a book and I would love to read.I wish you safe travels and continued great fun. Bette

Corrections for, "M E M O R Y"

line 7: "the wind on the cliff the cold rain blowing upward"

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In, "THE RAIN IN THE TREES," there is one line space between every two lines of poetry in the poem, "M E M O R Y."

M E M O R Y

Climbing through a dark shower

I came to the edge of the mountain

I was a child

and everything was there

the flight of eagles the passage of warriors

watching the valley far below

the wind of the cliff the cold rain blowing upward

from the rock face

everything around me had burned

and I was coming back

walking on charcoal among the low green bushes

wet to the skin and wide awake

--- "M E M O R Y," one of the poems in, "THE RAIN IN THE TREES," W.S. Merwin