Fleeting Summer Sun

It was a crab slowly exploring the seashore

crawling over rough shells on the white sand,

over starfish and smooth beach glass.

Some friends toss around a beach ball

being saturated by the scorching sun.

They take refuge under a rainbow umbrella,

with the scent of spray-on sunscreen irritating their nostrils

as they cool off their burnt backs.

Children fill their blue and red buckets with sand

and seawater to create castles

and palaces like the Taj Mahal or Versailles

only for them to be knocked down by the crashing waves.

The crab almost reaches dry land before it is suddenly picked up

by a wave, dragged by rip currents, and slowly drifts away.