And suddenly everything becomes lovable

And suddenly everything becomes lovable, the blue sky,
the worn books on the shelf, and how the sun paints golden
flowers forgotten in a vase,
a glass of milk on the table--I go through in my mind
the history of humanity, a fish crawling ashore from water,
beginning to gasp for air, lizards, brontosauri
shaking the cloud-covered earth, and what caused their end,
a sudden ice age, a comet, a massive meteorite?
Man devours raw meat in dark antiquity,
begins to till the soil and make war?
Always new and better, more efficient weapons.
Always a thousand reasons to conquer and beat the enemy?
And I feel sorry for Europe, now being threatened
from all quarters, as if it were already
     just a target.
We must imagine a better end for us.

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