Poetry: Harper Knows

Harper Knows
— by Jens Kruse —

Harper,
our granddaughter,
three years old,
told her father,
that houses shouldn’t be too big,
because
“you don’t want to break the sky.”

How did Harper know,
that big houses
use lots of energy,
emit lots of carbon dioxide,
help warm our planet,
cause ruinous rains,
sky-splitting storms?

“How did Harper know?”

It’s the wrong question.
How do too many adults not know,
or pretend not to know,
or do not care,
that we are breaking the sky?

Let us listen to Harper.
She knows.