The Trees Unloose Their Soft Arms

The Moment

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 are you got there,
and say, I own this,

is the same moment 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 round.

Margaret Atwood

It seems to be a human tendency to want to possess beauty when we see it. Even taking photographs can be a way of "capturing" something beautiful to make it our own. I always want to be aware that I am just a visitor and nothing belongs to me. Even in relationships...

I haven't been posting my daily Lent poem as I've been too busy packing and cleaning before our trip but now we are on our way so I can continue, hopefully!

We are driving to N. Carolina to spend a few days with Josiah & Erin in Brevard, before flying from Charlotte, NC to England.
As it's a 16 hour drive, we chose to overnight in Birmingham, Alabama because it was named after the industrial city (though not so much these days) of Birmingham, England where we will be staying when we get to that part of our trip.

Birmingham AL is often referred to as The Iron City because it is situated in the Jonas Valley below the Red Mountain surrounded by a mineral district rich in iron ore, coal and limestone. There are no navigable rivers in the foothills so it wasn't until the trains came that these resources were exploited and Birmingham was founded at a railroad crossing. Indeed, last night, I lay in bed listening to the train whistles in the dark.

These beautiful trees with their "soft arms" of blossom were just outside our motel.