Do you need water? A mother asks,
and we echo Do you? To our own children
Fashion flasks appear from nowhere but
the children run off, red-faced, sweaty

From the swings a child calls Mama
and we look in unison, geese in a V
until one of us veers off; a child runs over 
Can you come and find me?

Pause the mother, let her breathe
She wipes her sweat, we wipe ours 
No, we brought you here for the children
Play with the children

And we exhale as she exhales
And we all sit as she sits 
There is no one towering
There is no one to judge