Could paradise happen to us?
Could we be transformed, blossoms falling
From the sky, manna falling, ambrosia falling,
Could we understand every creature’s speech,
The libretto of the rhinoceros, the villanelle
Hissed by a king cobra, so beautiful?
Could there be such a sweetness
We should never tire of it, a perfect parade
Of novelty? Could we look into the varied sky
And see what has been hidden, grasp the width
Of boundless nebulae? Could paradise happen to us?
Could we be eaten up by fire running up
And down the hills, could we be ash
In the air, along the whole coast, the unbroken rind
Of the country? Could you put on a mask
To keep us away?
-Daisy Bassen
Daisy Bassen is a poet and practicing physician who graduated from Princeton University’s Creative Writing Program and completed her medical training at The University of Rochester and Brown. Her work has been published in Oberon, The Sow’s Ear, and multiple other journals. She lives in Rhode Island with her family.
“Some Say The World Will End” first appeared in print in Tuck Magazine, November
2018