The Last Night

”What if this is the last night of the world?” by John Donne You rub your sleepy eyes, trying to stay awake, but your heavy eyelids are easily covered. The question, which seems to burst forth at the last moment of desperation, when it seems that if you close your eyes now, you will never open them again, reads as a deep sigh and a trace of bewilderment in the face of the many ironies of today. As most would agree, the pandemic has exacerbated what was already wrong with the world and brought it to the surface. The symptoms of lethargy and panic seem like signs of the times, as if we are accelerating at a dizzying pace to regain lost time for growth, or as if there is no hope for the world anymore. The Last Night is a gritty portrait of the last night under the pressure of staying awake in a time of lingering disaster. If today is indeed the last night, how do we seize the passing time?