Impartial Observers

That lump you can see from here?
That is a nation on its belly.

It may be motionless.
If it is moving, it is crawling;

if it is crawling,
it is crawling toward where it believes

it should be: high on a mountain.
Some in the nation believe

they are standing tall, others
that they are crushed flat

because those who believe they’re standing tall
are standing upon them.

Maybe, though, no one is crawling at all,
and no one is completely still;

maybe what we see is the ground
sliding away from beneath them.

How is it that we have come to be here
watching this?  What place is this

where we can watch such a thing?
They seemed so far away,

once upon a time.  We’d thought
we’d found the perfect spot to watch this happen;

now it seems that we’re approaching
the place they’re approaching,

and it seems as well that the footing where we’re standing
is beginning to writhe.