My big sister grew remarkably tall
before I was even able to crawl
Her limbs, they towered over mine –
And from way up there, beyond the tree line
I often wondered, what could she see?
Plenty, I was sure, when she’s as tall as a tree

But most days she tended to climb right down
To where the falling leaves hit the fallen ground

And there she patiently played with me
for years on end, all she would ever see
was a grasshopper’s view –
so much shorter than she
Forever blissing out at the base of our tree.

It’s only when I slept
that she’d tuck away
In her leafy pain.
She didn’t want others to feel the wet of the rain.

My, how her roots have made her so tall
Hot suns and cold storms – she’s defeated them all

What a marvel it is for grasshoppers like me
to grow in the shade of another’s canopy
And though I dream to be tall as she
(so I might get a glimpse at what she can see)
A grasshopper’s place is by the tree’s foot
As my sister says, ‘You’ve got to stay put!’

Because down on the ground
is where the magic is found
And to have a grasshopper’s view
is to see the world anew.