Transference

Small children, reel the moving ramp in -
Parents frozen with trolleys, mechanically strained
in silent time to the curving corrugated flow -
Small children either side, reeling rubber strips in.

They strain the perpetual handles until
they slowly, resolutely pull their parents near.
The fun, oh the fun; the tension, the power -
Imagine, were it real, pulling them in, until

Parents roll in, scoop up, and hurry them on.
They run, oh they run, Parents follow on
And on, the children run on, follow in
To shop, irresolute power, strained until ...
Parents pass on. Resolve, all gone.