i just wanted to say i'm sorry.
i didn't want to offend You, really, i just...
i just wanted to eat.
i don't know if You'll be able to understand, i just...
i just want to try. to try to explain.

i don't remember my Hatching.
my earliest memory is feeding on one of Your Offerings.
the Kwatisas of my Refuge were with me.
it was a most extravagent feast.
i now know You called it an orange peel...
it provided the Kee for our next generation.

the elder Kwatisa always spoke of You.
they said You were the source of all Kee.
they said without You, we would not live.
yet they warned us, to flee if we saw You.
because should You see us, You would destroy us.

i will never forget the first time i beheld You.
i had left our Refuge to forage...
i was above the Shrine of Your Offerings.
then You came...
and i beheld a sight i could not comprehend.

You were unlike any Kwatisa i had seen.
You were colossal.
You were of Kee.
and, You perceived.
i was so awestruck, i could not flee.

You traveled more swiftly than any Kwatisa.
You retrieved a source of Kee.
You consumed most of it.
then, You Offered us the remainder.
You never looked to the ceiling, and so my life was spared...
but my luck would not last.

my next encounter with You would be my last...
i was foraging far from my Refuge.
in another Realm.
then, You appeared in the Realm, and You perceived me...
and faster than i could flee...
You crushed me with Your shoe.

now i am Here, and i can percieve...
far beyond my life.
far beyond time.
naturally, my first thought was to percieve You...
to know You.
to understand You.

and when i did, i was overwhelmed.
You are... so far beyond my comprehension.
You are so advanced, so complex...
You are so much greater than any Kwatisa could ever dream of.
Your kind have reshaped the world.

i can see now, the way Kwatisa were...
before Your coming.
we did not starve, we did not struggle for survival...
there was an abundance of Kee.
we lived in harmony with other beings of Kee.

but then Your kind came, and You...
You rose far above all other beings.
far, far above.
Your dreams, Your accomplishments became so lofty...
so that we became so far beneath You...
we were not worthy of Your attention.

Your Offerings of Kee, they were not Offerings...
they were garbage.
You didn't need them anymore.
You weren't giving us Kee to preserve us.
no, You hated us.

i can see now.
our form, it...
it revolted You.
Your kind, who created these Realms we inhabit...
You didn't want us in them.
You wanted us gone.

i understand it now.
our time was before You came.
we don't belong in Your world anymore.
and yet... and yet, i can see...
that once, You were not so different from us.

once, Your kind were not masters of the world.
once, Your kind lived in it, not above it.
once, Your kind too had to forage for Kee.
once, Your kind understood our struggle.
once, Your kind did not see Yourselves as superior.

i can see now, that we both feel joy.
we both feel fear.
we both feel pain.
we are both curious.
we both love others of our kind.

so i write this now to You.
so that when You one day come Here...
You may be able to see from our perspective.
You will be able to see that we meant You no harm.
that we never meant to offend You with our presence.

i just wanted to say i'm sorry.
i never asked to Hatch into Your Realm.
i never wanted to disgust You by existing...
i just wanted to eat. to survive.
just like You did.

and yet, i can't help but think...
and again, i'm sorry...
but i can't help but think, that just maybe...
the way you thought of us as nothing but vermin...
...maybe you were wrong to think that way.

Translator's notes:

You: the reader.
Hatching: birth.
Kee: life.
Kwatisa: cockroach.
Offering: discarded food.
Shrine: garbage bin.
Refuge: nest.
Realm: room.
Here: unknown meaning.