glacial cold tugs at her nipples,
pulling them to hard peeks.
suspended beneath the surface,
she peers at a shimmering vision
of sky. fuzzy. unfocused.

her skin tightens to goose flesh;
her lungs burn while her hair
drifts gauzily above her head.
she flexes her toes in the cold,muddy
lake-bottom. silky. alive.

beginning her adventure in the forest’s
womb, autumn opens her arms,
opens them to life and promise
to death and the lie of an afterlife
floating in transit. opiated. obfuscated.