Our little rented student house
was so small
the room where I had my desk
and the filled bookshelves
were just above the crib
with our new little baby
and I was always afraid
the books might fall down
off the shelves
in an earthquake
onto the crib below
and squash the baby
and I thought
maybe I should fix a strap
across each shelf
to hold the books back
in an earthquake
and maybe I actually did
I don’t remember now
but we moved to a somewhat bigger place
with more room safer
That’s just what young people do
learning to grow up