After the Flood, We
We must be the only ones
left, in the mist that has risen
everywhere as well
as in these woods
I walk across the bridge
towards the safety of high ground
(the tops of the trees are like islands)
gathering the sunken
bones of the drowned mothers
(hard and round in my hands)
while the white mist washes
around my legs like water;
fish must be swimming
down in the forest beneath us,
like birds, from tree to tree
and a mile away
the city, wide and silent,
is lying lost, far undersea.
You saunter beside me, talking
of the beauty of the morning,
not even knowing
that there has been a flood,
tossing small pebbles
at random over your shoulder
into the deep thick air,
not hearing the first stumbling
footsteps of the almost-born
coming (slowly) behind us,
not seeing
the almost-human
brutal faces forming
(slowly)
out of stone.
from The Circle Game by Margaret Atwood, page 4
This poem is incredible
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