If I Learned The World Would End Tomorrow

Some people once to Martin Luther turned
and asked: “What would you do, sir, if you learned
the world would end tomorrow?” to which he
replied: “Good question. Plant an apple tree.”

If they would ask me the same question, I
would say: “Here’s what I’d do before I die.
I’d write a poem, which I would address
to God. Perhaps He hardly could care less
about my verses than He does about
the tree of Luther – He can do without
them both – and I’d challenge Him to find
a poem He can plant inside His mind!”

But whether I would plant a tree or write
a poem, I would carry on performing
commandments as I am obliged, despite
my ignorance of their rationale; conforming
with them being as natural as to those
the tree – that Luther never planted – would
have followed, quite unable to oppose
rules which no tree has ever understood.

כִּי הָאָדָם עֵץ הַשָּׂדֶה, because man is a tree of the field.  Deut. 21:19