Dearest Future Grandchild - Kristy Hellum

[Larry Robinson]

Dearest Future Grandchild

I wanted to tell you

that early on
I drove an electric car
I carefully carried out the dishwater 
to pour on my herbs and strawberries
and I rode my old bicycle often
and quit flying on airplanes.

I wanted to tell you

that I lived with other people
in smaller houses and shared resources
and we created our own currency and flew
the earth flag at the very top in the town square.

I wanted to tell you

that I knew, 
that we all knew
what was happening
to our climate 
about the immeasurable destruction

and so we held funerals for the whales
whose bodies washed ashore
we stopped buying plastic and quit eating meat
we collected rain water
and grew enough food for the neighbors

I wanted to tell you

that we did all of those things,
but truth was
we didn’t do them,
hardly any of them,
well 

Instead
we learned to talk with plants
and danced in the forests
we prayed to the giant redwoods
and they taught us real things
about justice and grief
and change 

We swam naked in the cold ocean
like mermaids, all of us singing
then we cried for species loss, then
laughed in delight when
dolphins swam just off shore
as if THEY were cheering for US!

And I sang to you little one
we all sang to you
making offerings for your safe arrival
on this spinning blue miracle of a planet
but mostly

I wanted to tell you

that ALL of those things
ALL of it
made a difference. 


	- Kristy Hellum
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