The seawall

The child runs because
a child runs, (“Catch me, catch me
before I fall!”) because
running is what the child does.

The laws

of gravity cycle through--
and the laws of laughter.
The mother,
after the child, she runs

to catch him before
the seawall comes.
This is what the mother does
again and again
until she tires of the routine.

Then the mother lets the child to fall,
onto the mud near the waves,
near the crabs. What the child does:

runs and falls, runs and cries.