Caressed, Carried

Smooth ledge, gravel bed becoming

Water cooler than air,

A thousand arctic ants playing with my toes.

Green clear water pulsing at my ankle,

Rising to the calf, trapping air beneath the hair like sequins.

Creeping up the leg, to shudder when it reaches

Inmost thigh.

Bubbles trapped by hair release

And tickle up my belly.

Water clutches at my chest, almost unnoticed

I rise but do not float.

Green water reaches chin, I draw up,

Then relax into the force.

Water kissing my mouth and ears at once.

Involuntarily, sucking

Air before green water takes my head.

Floating in green seas, twisting in the breezes of the stream,

Settling into the fluid unseen hand,

Caressed, carried.