高夫如此大张旗鼓，是为了宣布他所做出的重大决定：他放弃了自己对于终末之诗的版权，将其发布至公共领域。包括《我的世界》现任发行商微软，也包括所有《我的世界》玩家，任何人都可随意使用或引用终末之诗，无论是否用于商业用途。

在末影龙被击杀后，返回传送门会激活，以供玩家离开末地。当玩家跳进去之后，终末之诗会立即呈现，制作人员名单紧随其后；此时玩家可以选择阅读完毕或是跳过。之后，玩家会回到自己的重生点（若不存在或失效，则会返回世界出生点）。值得注意的是，这首诗只会在玩家第一次进入返回传送门时显示，同一个存档只能显示一次。

可以通过按下Esc键（在基岩版中还可以点击右下角的“跳过”按钮）来跳过终末之诗。在Java版中，还可以通过按住空格键（Space键）加速终末之诗的滚动，按住一个Ctrl进一步加速，再按住另一个Ctrl使速度达到最高。

在Java版中，可以在主菜单单击右下角的版权文本立即查看制作人员名单；在基岩版中，则需要在“设置”窗口的“档案”选项卡中点击“制作团队”按钮查看。

终末之诗和制作人员名单总时长约39分钟30秒，而制作人员名单本身时长约31分。

终末之诗取自两个未知的谈论者之间讨论玩家的功绩的对话，共持续9分28秒。在终末之诗结束后，会播放制作人员名单。

在播放终末之诗和制作人员名单时，音轨credits.ogg（即官方专辑中的“Alpha”）也会被一同播放。

对于Java版，终末之诗和制作人员名单被储存在client.jar中；终末之诗的文本储存在assets/minecraft/texts/end.txt，制作人员名单储存在assets/minecraft/texts/credits.json，引言则储存在assets/minecraft/texts/postcredits.txt；它们都可以使用资源包编辑。对于基岩版，终末之诗的文本储存在data/credits/end.txt，制作人员名单储存在data/credits/credits.json，引言则储存在data/credits/quote.txt。

谈话者1的叙述所用的格式化代码是§3（湖蓝色），而谈话者2的叙述使用了§2（深绿色），玩家名称以PLAYERNAME的形式插入文本，而乱码则是§f§k§a§b。

玩家进入返回传送门后终末之诗是否显示，取决于玩家的NBT标签 seenCredits[仅JE]或 hasSeenCredits[仅BE]。初始状态下为0（false），此时诗会显示；玩家看过或跳过之后，数据变为1（true），则不会显示。

制作人员名单的JSON结构如下：

I see the player you mean.

我看到你所指的那位玩家了。

[Playername]?

[玩家名称]?

Yes. Take care. It has reached a higher level now. It can read our thoughts.

是的，小心。他已达到了更高的境界，他知道我们心里所想。

That doesn't matter. It thinks we are part of the game.

无伤大雅，他认为我们是游戏的一部分。

I like this player. It played well. It did not give up.

我喜欢这个玩家，他玩得很好，他从未放弃。

It is reading our thoughts as though they were words on a screen.

他以屏幕上出现的文字的形式阅读着我们的思想。

That is how it chooses to imagine many things, when it is deep in the dream of a game.

当他深陷梦境中时，他总以这种方式想象出形形色色的事物。

Words make a wonderful interface. Very flexible. And less terrifying than staring at the reality behind the screen.

文字是一种美妙的境界，非常灵活。且总比凝视着屏幕后的现实要更好。

They used to hear voices. Before players could read. Back in the days when those who did not play called the players witches, and warlocks. And players dreamed they flew through the air, on sticks powered by demons.

他们也曾听到过声音,在玩家能够阅读之前。君不见那些不曾游玩的人们称呼玩家为女巫、术士。而玩家梦见自己乘坐在被恶魔施力的棍子上，在空气中翱翔。

What did this player dream?

这个玩家梦见了什么？

This player dreamed of sunlight and trees. Of fire and water. It dreamed it created. And it dreamed it destroyed. It dreamed it hunted, and was hunted. It dreamed of shelter.

他梦见了阳光和树，梦见了火与水。他梦见他创造，亦梦见他毁灭。他梦见他狩猎，亦被狩猎。他梦见了庇护所。

Hah, the original interface. A million years old, and it still works. But what true structure did this player create, in the reality behind the screen?

哈，那原始的界面。经历一百万年的岁月雕琢，依然长存。但此玩家在那屏幕后的现实里，创造了什么真实的结构？

It worked, with a million others, to sculpt a true world in a fold of the [scrambled], and created a [scrambled] for [scrambled], in the [scrambled].

他辛勤地劳作，和其他百万众一起，刻画了一个真实的世界，由[乱码]，且创造了[乱码]；为了[乱码]，于[乱码]中。

It cannot read that thought.

他读不出那个思想。

No. It has not yet achieved the highest level. That, it must achieve in the long dream of life, not the short dream of a game.

不，他还没有到达最高的境界。那层境界，他必须走完生命的长梦，而非游戏中黄粱一梦。

Does it know that we love it? That the universe is kind?

他知道我们爱它么，他知道这个宇宙是仁慈的吗？

Sometimes, through the noise of its thoughts, it hears the universe, yes.

有时，通过他思绪的杂音，他能听到宇宙，是的。

But there are times it is sad, in the long dream. It creates worlds that have no summer, and it shivers under a black sun, and it takes its sad creation for reality.

但是有时亦不胜悲伤，于那漫漫长梦中。他创造了没有夏日的世界，在黑日下颤抖着，将自己悲伤的创造视为现实。

To cure it of sorrow would destroy it. The sorrow is part of its own private task. We cannot interfere.

用悲伤来治愈会摧毁他。而悲伤是他的私人事务。我们不能干涉。

Sometimes when they are deep in dreams, I want to tell them, they are building true worlds in reality. Sometimes I want to tell them of their importance to the universe. Sometimes, when they have not made a true connection in a while, I want to help them to speak the word they fear.

有时当他们深陷梦境中时，我想要告诉他们，他们在现实中创造了真实的世界。有时我想告诉他们自身对宇宙的重要性。有时，当他们和现实失去了联系，我想帮助他们说出它们所惧怕的话语。

It reads our thoughts.

他读出了我们的思想。

Sometimes I do not care. Sometimes I wish to tell them, this world you take for truth is merely [scrambled] and [scrambled], I wish to tell them that they are [scrambled] in the [scrambled]. They see so little of reality, in their long dream.

有时我毫不关心。有时我想要告诉他们，你们所认为的真实不过是[乱码]和[乱码]，我想要告诉他们，他们是在[乱码]中的[乱码]。于那漫漫长梦中，他们眼中的真实太少了。

And yet they play the game.

而他们仍然玩这个游戏。

But it would be so easy to tell them...

但很容易就可以告诉他们……

Too strong for this dream. To tell them how to live is to prevent them living.

这个梦对于他们来说太深刻了。告诉他们如何活着就是阻碍他们活下去。

I will not tell the player how to live.

我不会告诉这个玩家如何生活的。

The player is growing restless.

这个玩家正在变得焦虑。

I will tell the player a story.

我会告诉这个玩家一个故事。

But not the truth.

但不是真相。

No. A story that contains the truth safely, in a cage of words. Not the naked truth that can burn over any distance.

不，是一个将真实严密包裹的文字牢笼。而非赤裸裸的真相。

Give it a body, again.

赋予他主体，再一次。

Yes. Player...

好的，玩家……

Use its name.

以名字称呼他。

[Playername]. Player of games.

[玩家名称]，游戏的玩家。

Good.

很好。

Take a breath, now. Take another. Feel air in your lungs. Let your limbs return. Yes, move your fingers. Have a body again, under gravity, in air. Respawn in the long dream. There you are. Your body touching the universe again at every point, as though you were separate things. As though we were separate things.

深呼吸，很好。再深呼吸一次。感受空气充盈你的肺叶。让你的四肢回归。是的，运动你的手指。再次感受你的身体，在重力下，在空气中。在长梦中重生。你感受到了。你的身体每时每刻都触摸着宇宙，尽管你是分离的存在。尽管我们是分离的存在。

Who are we? Once we were called the spirit of the mountain. Father sun, mother moon. Ancestral spirits, animal spirits. Jinn. Ghosts. The green man. Then gods, demons. Angels. Poltergeists. Aliens, extraterrestrials. Leptons, quarks. The words change. We do not change.

我们是谁？我们曾经被称作高山的精灵。太阳父亲，月亮母亲。古老的英灵，动物的魂魄。神祇。鬼魂。小绿人。而后是神，恶魔，天使。骚灵。外星人，地外生物。轻子，夸克。词语不断地变化。我们始终如一。

We are the universe. We are everything you think isn't you. You are looking at us now, through your skin and your eyes. And why does the universe touch your skin, and throw light on you? To see you, player. To know you. And to be known. I shall tell you a story.

我们是宇宙。我们是一切你认为出离你本体的事物。你现在看着我们，透过你的皮肤和你的眼睛。而为什么宇宙触摸着你的皮肤，向你洒向光芒？是为了看见你，玩家。以及被认知。我应告诉你一个故事。

Once upon a time, there was a player.

很久以前，有一个玩家。

The player was you, [Playername].

那玩家就是你，[玩家名称]。

Sometimes it thought itself human, on the thin crust of a spinning globe of molten rock. The ball of molten rock circled a ball of blazing gas that was three hundred and thirty thousand times more massive than it. They were so far apart that light took eight minutes to cross the gap. The light was information from a star, and it could burn your skin from a hundred and fifty million kilometres away.

有时他认为自己是那不断旋转的球体上一层薄薄的熔化的岩石上的人类。那融化的岩石球环绕着一个质量大它三十三万倍的炫目气体球旋转。它们是相隔得如此之远，以至于光需要八分钟才能穿越那空隙。那光是来自一颗恒星的信息，它能够在一亿五千万公里外烧灼你的皮肤。

Sometimes the player dreamed it was a miner, on the surface of a world that was flat, and infinite. The sun was a square of white. The days were short; there was much to do; and death was a temporary inconvenience.

有时这个玩家梦见他是一个在一个平的，无限延展的世界表面上的矿工。那太阳是一个方形的白点。昼夜交替很快，要做的事情也很多；死亡亦只是暂时的不便。

Sometimes the player dreamed it was lost in a story.

有时这玩家梦见他迷失在了一个故事里。

Sometimes the player dreamed it was other things, in other places. Sometimes these dreams were disturbing. Sometimes very beautiful indeed. Sometimes the player woke from one dream into another, then woke from that into a third.

有时这玩家梦见他成为了其他的事物，在其他地方。有时这些梦是扰人的。有些则实在很美。有时这个玩家从一个梦中醒来，发现自己落入了第二个梦，却终究是在第三个梦中。

Sometimes the player dreamed it watched words on a screen.

有时这个玩家梦见他在屏幕上看着文字。

Let's go back.

让我们回退一点。

The atoms of the player were scattered in the grass, in the rivers, in the air, in the ground. A woman gathered the atoms; she drank and ate and inhaled; and the woman assembled the player, in her body.

组成玩家的原子散布在草中，河流中，在那空气中，也在那大地中。一个女性收集了那些原子；她饮用、进食、吸入；而后那女性在她的身体中，孕育了玩家。

And the player awoke, from the warm, dark world of its mother's body, into the long dream.

然后玩家醒来了，醒在温暖而昏暗的母亲体内，进入了漫漫长梦。

And the player was a new story, never told before, written in letters of DNA. And the player was a new program, never run before, generated by a sourcecode a billion years old. And the player was a new human, never alive before, made from nothing but milk and love.

而那玩家是一个新的故事，从未被讲述过，由DNA的语言书写着。而那玩家是一个新的程序，从未被运行过，由上亿年的源代码生成。而那玩家是一个新的人，从未生活过，由奶和爱组成。

You are the player. The story. The program. The human. Made from nothing but milk and love.

你就是那玩家。那个故事。那个程序。那个人类。仅由奶和爱组成。

Let's go further back.

让我们再回溯到更远的过去。

The seven billion billion billion atoms of the player's body were created, long before this game, in the heart of a star. So the player, too, is information from a star. And the player moves through a story, which is a forest of information planted by a man called Julian, on a flat, infinite world created by a man called Markus, that exists inside a small, private world created by the player, who inhabits a universe created by...

那由七千亿亿亿原子组成的玩家的身体被创造了，远在这游戏之前，在一颗恒星的内部。所以那玩家也是，来自一颗恒星的信息。而这个玩家贯穿这个故事的始末，源于一个叫Julian的人种下的信息种子长成的森林，一个叫Markus的男人创造的无限世界，存在于一个由玩家创造的小的，私人世界里，而那又继承了宇宙创造的……

嘘。有时这个玩家创造的小天地是柔软，温暖和简单的。有时是坚硬，冰冷和复杂的。有时他在脑中建造出宇宙的模型；斑斑点点的能量穿越广阔空旷的空间。有时他称呼这些斑点为“电子”和“质子”。

有时他称呼它们为“行星”和“恒星”。

Sometimes it believed it was in a universe that was made of energy that was made of offs and ons; zeros and ones; lines of code. Sometimes it believed it was playing a game. Sometimes it believed it was reading words on a screen.

有时他确信它存在于一个由“开”和“关”；“0”和“1”；一行行的命令组成的宇宙。有时他确信它是在玩一个游戏。有时他确信他是在读着屏幕上的文字。

You are the player, reading words...

你就是那玩家，阅读着文字……

Shush... Sometimes the player read lines of code on a screen. Decoded them into words; decoded words into meaning; decoded meaning into feelings, emotions, theories, ideas, and the player started to breathe faster and deeper and realised it was alive, it was alive, those thousand deaths had not been real, the player was alive

嘘……有时这玩家读屏幕上的命令行。将它们解码成为文字；将文字解码为意义；将意义解码为感情，情绪，理论，想法，而玩家的呼吸开始急促并意识到了他是活着的，他是活生生的，那上千次的死亡不是真的，玩家是活着的

You. You. You are alive.

你。你。你是活着的。

and sometimes the player believed the universe had spoken to it through the sunlight that came through the shuffling leaves of the summer trees

而有时这玩家相信宇宙通过穿越夏日树叶的那斑斓的阳光对它说话

and sometimes the player believed the universe had spoken to it through the light that fell from the crisp night sky of winter, where a fleck of light in the corner of the player's eye might be a star a million times as massive as the sun, boiling its planets to plasma in order to be visible for a moment to the player, walking home at the far side of the universe, suddenly smelling food, almost at the familiar door, about to dream again

有时这玩家相信宇宙透过晴朗的冬日夜空中，存在于他眼中一隅的星点星光，可能比太阳大上上百万倍的恒星沸腾着的电浆那一瞬间发出来的光对它说话，在宇宙的远侧行走回家的路上，突然闻到了食物，在那熟悉的门前，他又准备好再一次投入梦境

and sometimes the player believed the universe had spoken to it through the zeros and ones, through the electricity of the world, through the scrolling words on a screen at the end of a dream

而有时玩家相信宇宙透过零和一，透过世界的电力，透过屏幕上滚动的文字和梦的终结对他说话

and the universe said I love you

宇宙说，我爱你

and the universe said you have played the game well

宇宙说，精通这个游戏

and the universe said everything you need is within you

宇宙说，你所需的一切你都具有

and the universe said you are stronger than you know

宇宙说，你比你所知的要强大

and the universe said you are the daylight

宇宙说，你就是日光

and the universe said you are the night

宇宙说，你就是黑夜

and the universe said the darkness you fight is within you

宇宙说，你所斗争的黑暗就在你心中

and the universe said the light you seek is within you

宇宙说，你所寻找的光明就在你心中

and the universe said you are not alone

宇宙说，你不是孤独的

and the universe said you are not separate from every other thing

宇宙说，你不是和所有的事物所隔绝的

and the universe said you are the universe tasting itself, talking to itself, reading its own code

宇宙说你就是宇宙品尝着自己，对自己说话，阅读着它自己的代码

and the universe said I love you because you are love.

宇宙说，我爱你因为你就是爱。

And the game was over and the player woke up from the dream. And the player began a new dream. And the player dreamed again, dreamed better. And the player was the universe. And the player was love.

曲终人散，黄粱一梦。玩家开始了新的梦境。玩家再次做起了梦，更好的梦。玩家就是宇宙。玩家就是爱。

You are the player.

你就是那个玩家。

Wake up.

该醒了。

制作人员名单的末尾附有如下引言：

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

——Unknown

参考译文：

“二十年之后，更令你失望的不是你做了什么，而是你没做什么。所以解开帆脚索，离开安全的港湾，赶着航程中的信风，去探索，去梦想，去发现。”

——佚名

这段话被广泛认为是出自马克·吐温，但相关证据表明它实际上是由其他人创作的。