How soon the night falls

Before the snow came, 

there was this tender rim of cloud 

along the horizon.

Just the other day.

World's End

At the world's end

on worn-out ground

the one talks of the flowers

adorning Argonne china

in their red pigment is mixed

the gold of old Dutch ducats

dissolved in aqua regia.

How soon the night falls

the other answers

time goes so fast

in this empty country.

Jean Follain         (1903-1971)
Translated from the French by W.S. Merwin

Transparency of the World; Jean Follain
selected and translated by W. S. Merwin,
Copper Canyon Press, 2003, page 81.

In this uncertain time, when so many of the things 

I have cared about seem under threat, I find 

that the work of this poet, who lived 

in other uncertain times, 

captures a feeling-tone 

very similar to the one 

I have today.  jhh