Sea Stars

It's always nice to visit places that bring the outside to you.

My son loves the touch pools at the aquarium.

This poem is for him.

Looking in the water

as ripples smooth and clear,

I see a star of colour

quietly appear.

Five arms that point out straight,

tough, bumpy skin on top,

little suckers underneath

help prop it on a rock.

Reaching down to touch,

I feel its roughened rays

and wonder how it finds its food

when here it seems to stay.

But sea stars are quite tricky-

they eat from outside in-

lunching on a clam or two

or fish with tiny fins.

I tickle it some more

with gentle fingertips-

new ripples start to form,

I feel the sea star shift.

Waving it goodbye-

that starry orange blur,

I know that I am lucky
to have seen what lives down there.