In this process mankind or the spirit merely destroys it and hastens its own annihilation by attempting to revise in order to make its own circumstances as comfortable as possible. If the act of making is at the center of the spirit's work, a poem is no exception. Just as mankind that branched out of life sacrifices life for its own comfort, so does the spirit that branched out of mankind sacrifice mankind for its own comfort. Viewed this way, we can more easily understand the present circumstances in which we can foresee the end of mankind. Even though the consequence will in fact lead to the annihilation of the spirit itself.
Poetry annihilates the spirit, then mankind . . .
Life, even left alone, will grow, then decline, and ultimately return to nothingness. As I have already pointed out, mankind will sacrifice life out of its egoism, but life's return to nothingness as a result of that sacrificing will be partial for the time being. For before then mankind will perish. If after mankind has perished, the spirit that branched out of mankind stays, and after the spirit has perished, the poetry that branched out of the spirit stays, that which will destroy poetry will have to be something that branches out of poetry. My thinking has come thus far, but I in fact stay put.