scujus est solum ejus usque ad coelum —13th c. common law
--Corey Van Landingham
Before man dreamed up the flying machine
we owned the air as far above our land
as we could imagine. Up to infinity. Down
to hell. Because air, in the days of tangible
property, was nothing. No foot had emerged
from a shuttle onto the foreign terrain
of the moon. No satellites passing over the garden.
No drones. The act of a horse, law says,
reaching his head into an adjoining field
and biting another horse is a trespass.
A word, freed from the lips, is in the air
a trespass. Now, in a country divvying up
the sky, unmanned machines will be given
innocent passage. People will walk around
whispering dominium as if to control at least
their breath. So, before the space of utterance
is duly regulated, before the 83 feet of air
we own above our heads begins its collapse,
this. I love you from the depth of the earth
to the height of the sky. I love you upon
land immovable, soil open to exploitation
by all. I am for your unreasonable use alone.
And, when the drone finally interferes
with your possessor’s enjoyment, to an
indefinite extent, I’ll remember a time when
men were the ones doing harm with
their own hands. I’ll remember the words I once
had to give to you, on the porch, in private.
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