We Should Know to Change
Genoa City, WI
2020, Senior, Poetry & Spoken Word
Butterflies don’t have to learn that they need to change,
They just know.
Caterpillars crawl and live their whole lives,
Knowing something bigger is coming.
Who told the seasons to change and grow,
To rock the whole world with their thrill?
Who tells the sky to say goodbye,
To shift from night to day?
Why can’t we be the ones to see
We’re murdering the world around us?
While caterpillars change, we cut down their homes
And change them into factories.
When the sun comes up, we cover our skin,
And damage the world’s natural sheet.
The summers get hotter,
The winters get colder,
But melting ice means there’s more ocean to swim in,
To splash and play and spill and pollute,
Drowning more than just fishes and krill.
We’re drowning ourselves,
Burying us in a sea of natural disaster;
Not the kind that Mother Nature evokes,
But where we terrorize nature.
It seems we’ll never learn.
It seems we’ll never stop.
It seems we’ll keep destroying our world
Until there’s none left to wreck.
But there
Is
Hope.
Hope in the wildflowers, saving the bees.
Hope in recycling, caring for trees.
Hope for less waste, carpools to arrange,
And hope in our youth, crying for change.
There’s hope in our world,
You just have to see it.
If we work together,
We’ll see that we can,
Saving what generations
Have chosen to ignore.
We are the change,
Small as we may feel.
If we come together,
There’s nothing we can’t do.
Reflection
My inspiration usually comes from the spring, as it did with this poem. I was inspired by things in nature that change, without being told they need to, whereas many people don’t recognize that we need to change our ways. I’ve always been passionate about saving the Earth. One of my favorite quotes is “There is no Planet B.” We’ve been given one planet of our own, and the way we’ve abused it for years and years is unfair and unjust. Through this project, I researched and learned many different ways to care for our planet that I never knew and will certainly be applying to my life, such as having a vegetarian day once a week and planting native wildflowers. I hope my poem inspires others to do the same. Although we may feel small as one, we can do anything together. I’ve been so blessed to have been given this life, and if I don’t make the most of it, I don’t think it’s a life worth living.