(photo) a sleeping man, in Matsudo, Chiba prefecture, Japan
Fire and Ice
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
■This poem predicts the contemporary world. I think fire symbolizes evil human behaviors, especillay the war and ice the fear of the nature, the chage of climate in the modern terms. The two phrases "From what I've tasted of desire" and " I think I know enough of hate" are probably a pair. I can understand the relationship between fire and desire, but I can't hate and ice. This hate may mean human's hate for the nature or human's control over the nature as a thing or a object. The author is talking about the end of the world but it sounds like something humorous. I feel that he had a crude look at human beings. This poem reminds me of Issa's following haiku.
We are skeleton bones
even though we are here like this
the air in the evening
2 comments:
Un besote Randy,
hello MONICA,
thanks for a comment. but i don't really understand what you are saying. i'm glad if you wrote in english next time.
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