Go play in the trees, she told her--

"Go play in the trees," she told her,

"and narrate everything you do."

And so the child grabbed

and snapped and jumped,

slid and crashed,

muddied and climbed,

scratched, cut, bled.

But mostly, the child talked

and thought about what she said,

choosing her words carefully.

Words like, "The trees are tall"

and "When the wind blows,

their leaves fall on me."