heavy

forever falling toward our lambent star
our tides alone acknowledge its vast pull
the lunar mass is not nearly as far
but heaps the oceans up when new, and full
the sum of sine curves, in and out of phase
one morning boats float less, one morning more
and seasides watch the come and go of waves
retreating and advancing on the shore
ten thousand generations didn't get
the simple law concealed in Nature's text
what Newton taught, what schoolboy could forget
the algorithm that makes forms complex
one inverse-square law, cosmic in its reach
keeps minds engaged while gazing at a beach