Behavior Searches for an End

After going for a swim,
A man was doing push-ups
On the rocks along the shore.

He was tall, long-armed, and strong.
Briskly bobbing up and down
A couple of hundred times,

He hardly slowed. Then he stood.
He looked around at no one
And started off down the trail,

But he paused, turned, and walked back
To the same spot on the rocks,
Dropped and did a dozen more.

You’re a human, we presume.
You know he’d give you reasons,
If you asked him, why he turned

To do those extra push-ups,
And for why he sat awhile
On his haunches, shook his head,

Turned in place, and did some more.
You know you could guess your own
Reasons, make up a story.

But you know, right now, you don’t
Really know why that creature
Did that much and then no more.