They are hostile nations

Breathe (M.A. Reilly, 2013)

They are hostile nationsBy Margaret Atwood

i

In view of the fading animals

the proliferation of sewers and fears   

the sea clogging, the air

nearing extinction

we should be kind, we should

take warning, we should forgive each other

Instead we are opposite, we   

touch as though attacking,

the gifts we bring

even in good faith maybe   

warp in our hands to

implements, to manoeuvres

ii

Put down the target of me

you guard inside your binoculars,   

in turn I will surrender

this aerial photograph   

(your vulnerable

sections marked in red)   

I have found so useful

See, we are alone in

the dormant field, the snow

that cannot be eaten or captured

iii

Here there are no armies   

here there is no money

It is cold and getting colder,

We need each others’

breathing, warmth, surviving   

is the only war

we can afford, stay

walking with me, there is almost   

time / if we can only   

make it as far as

the (possibly) last summer

Margaret Atwood, “They are hostile nations” from Selected Poems 1965-1975. Copyright © 1974, 1976 by Margaret Atwood. Used by permission of Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Source: Selected Poems (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1976)