The Moment

Margaret Atwood

 

The moment when, 

after many years of hard work and a long voyage,

you stand in the center of your room,

house, half-acre, square mile, island, country,

knowing at last how you got there,

and say, 

I own this,

is the same moment the when the trees 

unloose their soft arms from around you,

the birds take back their language,

the cliffs fissure and collapse,

the air moves back from you like a wave

and you can’t breathe.

No, they whisper.

You own nothing. 

You were a visitor, 

Time after time climbing the hill,

planting the flag, proclaiming.

We never belonged to you.

You never found us.

It was always the other way around.