Her toes stretch into the water, over slick stones and waterlogged sticks coated in algae,

washing away the mud coating her feet. 

Layer by layer, she watches the remnants of the forest trails she walked disappear 

with the shifting current and catch in the uneven riverbed below her. 

Tomorrow her heels may be coated again in dark loam and red clay,

but today she is clean, new and unattached. 

The river threatens to carry her away, over the rifts of the drifting floor and under the current.

But she is still and strong and content.

At rest.