<!DOCTYPE html> <!-- ========================================== kroc camen of camen design ============================================= --> <title>poem · The Word to End All Words</title> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/design/design.css" /> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, maximum-scale=1.0, user-scalable=no" /> <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" href="/poem/rss" title="Just poem" /> <link rel="canonical" href="/poem/end-of-words" /> <!-- =================================================================================================================== --> <header> <h1><a href="/" rel="index"> Camen Design </a></h1> <nav><ul> <li><a href="/">all</a></li> <li><a href="/projects">projects</a></li> <li><a href="http://forum.camendesign.com">forum</a></li> </ul><ul> <li><a href="/quote/">quote</a></li> <li><a href="/writing/">writing</a></li> <li><a href="/blog/">blog</a></li> <li><a href="/photo/">photo</a></li> <li><a href="/code/">code</a></li> <li><a href="/art/">art</a></li> <li><a href="/link/">link</a></li> <li><a href="/poem/" rel="tag">poem</a></li> <li><a href="/audio/">audio</a></li> </ul><ul> <li><a href="/web-dev/">web-dev</a></li> <li><a href="/annoyances/">annoyances</a></li> <li><a href="/eve/">eve</a></li> <li><a href="/code-is-art/">code-is-art</a></li> <li><a href="/inspiration/">inspiration</a></li> <li><a href="/windows/">windows</a></li> <li><a href="/gaming/">gaming</a></li> <li><a href="/gift/">gift</a></li> <li><a href="/mac/">mac</a></li> <li><a href="/osnews/">osnews</a></li> <li><a href="/c64/">c64</a></li> <li><a href="/linux/">linux</a></li> </ul> <a rel="previous" href="/poem/etiquette"> older article → </a></nav> </header> <!-- =================================================================================================================== --> <article><header> <!-- date published or updated --> <time pubdate datetime="2012-08-01T13:45:00+01:00"> <sup>1:45<abbr>pm</abbr> • 2012</sup> <abbr title="August">Aug</abbr> 1 </time> <!-- categories --> <ul> <li><a href="/poem/end-of-words" rel="bookmark tag">poem</a></li> <li><a href="/inspiration/end-of-words">inspiration</a></li> </ul> <!-- licence --> <small> <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_GB">c</a> share + remix </small> </header> <!-- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ --> <h1>The Word to End All Words</h1> <p> Like a black monolith you stand.<br /> Thy fearful symmetry. </p><p> Upon you is engraved a single word; a magic word,<br /> More powerful than the utterance of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Witch">Jadis</a>, the queen of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charn">Charn</a>,<br /> who ended all life in her world by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deplorable_Word">Deplorable Word</a>. </p><p> It is a word they do not understand.<br /> From birth they have not known it.<br /> It has not been taught, and neither has it been searched for. </p><p> By your word kingdoms have been flattened,<br /> Dynasties felled, endless wars begun.<br /> Lives torn apart and thrown asunder. </p><p> They do not know how to comprehend it.<br /> It confuses them, frustrates them.<br /> They bash against you, enraged at your silence.<br /> </p><p> <q>Why do you not respond!?</q> </p><p> But you do not respond.<br /> Your silence causes all their machinations to fall apart;<br /> The noise their livelihoods have come to depend upon. </p><p> When your silence has drowned out their noise,<br /> Then peace and quiet will ring out everywhere.<br /> For you are the word to end all words: No. </p> <!-- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ --> </article> <footer> <nav><a href="http://forum.camendesign.com">‹ Discuss this in the Forum ›</a></nav> <a href="mailto:kroc@camendesign.com">kroc@camendesign.com</a> <nav>view-source: <a href="/poem/end-of-words.rem">Rem</a> • <a href="/poem/end-of-words.html">HTML</a> • <a href="/design/">CSS</a> • <a href="/.system/">PHP</a> • <a href="/.htaccess">.htaccess</a> </nav> <form method="get" action="https://duckduckgo.com"> <input type="hidden" name="sites" value="camendesign.com" /> <input type="search" name="q" placeholder="search…" /> <input type="submit" value="Go" /> </form> </footer> <!-- =================================================================================================== code is art === -->