Getting There

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 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.
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.

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.

by Czeslaw Milosz

Happening

I'm slowly reclaiming the house. With Blue Erin's help I waded through clothing, and all my drawers close now, almost. I am very sentimentally attached to my clothing; there is a story to go with each piece: this person gave that to me, I wore this when I met that person, I made this for that festival. It's good to have someone remind me that other people can wear and love these things too, if I no longer do. The floors are clean, dishes almost all done, my botanical sheets and blankets are on the bed, and in the clothing sorting process some boxes were banished. I made, shared, and ate food in my kitchen.

It was a very long workday. I'm not yet done, but I couldn't make it to 12 hours. Not only would that have taken me deep into dusk, but I didn't really sleep last night and I needed to be done. I may or may not go in on the weekend depending on the weather report; I really should but if it's going to be very sunny or very rainy Monday I can probably do without it. That does put a lot of stress on Monday, though... and Monday I want to be off work in time to see everyone who's back from PAX at the movie night at Andrew's.

I hope I can sleep tonight. I have a nice tomorrow lined up if I can make it through, there'll be more housecleaning, farmer's market and bike fixing and Walker, and in the evening _dubiosity_, artichokes, and Star Trek. Day after that is more cleaning & rats cages, writing, some hangout time with saxifrage00, hopefully some Paulocaust time, and then the hard part where I wait for people to come home, they get stuck in the border lineup, things get stretched out, everyone else gets dropped off first, and I can't sleep because it seems people will be home imminently but there's always a little more delay and then a little more.

Okay, I'm stupid tired now. Time to go stare at things in my bedroom in the dark.