In Those Years

 In those years, people will say, we lost track  

of the meaning of we, of you  

we found ourselves  

reduced to I  

and the whole thing became  

silly, ironic, terrible: we were trying to live a personal life  

and yes, that was the only life  

we could bear witness to   

But the great dark birds of history screamed and plunged  

into our personal weather  

They were headed somewhere else but their beaks and pinions drove  

along the shore, through the rags of fog  

where we stood, saying I

--Adrienne Rich