Pandemic poetry | Harper’s Sixth Birthday by Jens Kruse

By Jens Kruse|2020-11-14T15:31:35-08:00May 10th, 2020|1 Comment

MAY 6, 2020: HARPER’S SIXTH BIRTHDAY
By Jens Kruse

The broadleaf maples are in their spring glory,
the wild cherries are in full bloom,
black-headed grosbeaks are perched in them
waiting for their turn at the feeder.

Twice today a bald eagle flew high
above the trees,
gliding — its wings still,
its white head and tail
glinting in the sun —
in large circles,
looking down.

I wish I could fly like an eagle,
could look down
on you, Harper,
in your yard, as you turn six.
But I can’t.

But that mockingbird
looking at you
from the tree
behind your house,
singing this song
for your birthday,
imagine, Harper,
that that’s me,
your Opa.

About the Author: Jens Kruse

Jens Kruse was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1949 and spent his early years playing with his cousins in the rubble fields of his native city. So he absorbed almost unconsciously the lesson that democracy was precious and precarious and that its loss can have catastrophic consequences. He was educated in Germany and the United States, eventually earning a Ph. D. in Comparative Literature at UCLA. He taught German Language and Literature at Wellesley College from 1983 to 2016. His wife Susan and he visited Orcas Island for the first time in the summer of 2008. That fall they bought a home here and for the next few years migrated back and forth between Orcas and Wellesley, MA. After Jens’ retirement from Wellesley College they started living here year-round. If you would like to have more information about his work at Wellesley you can find it HERE https://www.wellesley.edu/german/facultystaff/kruse. Jens has volunteered at the Orcas Library for many years and used to serve on its Board of Trustees. In that role he is guided by the deep conviction that the Library is an essential community resource, supporting the intellectual, informational, and social interests and needs of our fellow community members of all ages and all walks of life. It is a profoundly egalitarian institution in a time of inequality. In short, it is an institution that will help us preserve democracy.