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| Photo by Matt Valentine |
"On the last day of the world
I would want to plant a tree..."
American Poet
1927 -
From time to time people have predicted the end of the world and their followers have given up their worldly goods and waited — only to find they waited in vain. Yes, the world as we know it will come to an end one day. But none of us now living will be here to see it. In the past, civilizations have come and gone. Think Mayan, Aztec, Egyptian, Greek, Roman and Chinese. One day our civilization will also pass into history.
And even the animals and plants come and go. Remember the dinosaurs? The human animal too will disappear from this earth and a new species will appear. But don't fear neither you nor your children or grandchildren will be here to witness it.
So if by some freak accident, you had the opportunity to be on this earth on the last day before the total destruction of the earth, what would you do? Would you plant a tree as Merwin suggests? Talk about optimism in the face of disaster.
Over the last thirty years, Merwin, who lives in Hawaii, has planted more then 4,000 trees on 19 acres that were once considered a wasteland. He has planted 850 different species of trees. Here is the complete poem from which this quote comes.
Place
by W. S. Merwin
On the last day of the world
I would want to plant a tree
what for
not for the fruit
the tree that bears the fruit
is not the one that was planted
I want the tree that stands
in the earth for the first time
with the sun already
going down
and the water
touching its roots
in the earth full of the dead
and the clouds passing
one by one
over its leaves
Here is W. S. Merwin reading his poem, Yesterday.
