Creative Child

We go on our walk
Leash slung around my torso
Stick resting on my shoulder
Me, in boots and hat
The master
 understander of social obligations to fellow path–takers
 barker of commands
 thrower of the stick
 gazing ahead at her
 Her happiness mine
She, naked to the world
The child
 wagging her tail and shyly, naïvely approaching all comers
 reluctant heeder
 joyful fetcher
 exploring the vast world of
  earthly treasures
  surrounding us

Refraction

A hard scientific concept to explain
 light
It knows the fastest route
 ahead of time
and bends as it transitions,
 veers course
joyously following some cosmic efficiency
depending on the medium in which
 it finds itself
I throw the stick far down the creek
 thinking to guide Lexi into a long swim
with natural instinct she trots
 lengthwise down the watery beach
 and, in happenstance, selects
 the most efficient entrance to dive into the deep
Then there were those long minutes she spent
 at the edge of the pool
Determinedly awaiting the stick
 to drift to her