_Autumn’s breath weaves chill from spine _

I found a dead body in the woods.

_Its scent bleeds forth from molded ground _

Her skin was white, she wore a frown.

_Whence fox feet trailed a buried line _

Her body lay bare, lips soiled with grime.

_Through brush recoiled where once bound. _

Clothed in my shadow, uttered no sound.

_Hangs from branches like withered bats _

In teeth, they found her name at last.

_Birch bark’s paper fingers linger _

Arrow birthmark on her finger.

_Creek stones cling to moss-made hats _

And so unveiled a ‘scandalous’ past.

_Chapparal’s crown reduced to tinder _

A prostitute, downtown club singer.

_Wildflowers stripped to a skeleton frame _

She was on the news for only one day.

_Whiskered petals scratch and skitter _

Then was burned to skull and cinder.

_Songbird’s spirit — fallen lame _

Swept beneath a shallow grave.

_Draped their feathered flesh, grown bitter _

Left her to lie, no care for her killer.

_Pond grows dark neath rings of ice _

I’d sit beside her stone, at times.

_Leaves grow paler, drift to snow_

And watch the lanterns’ fading glow.

_Milked from moon, a clean-cut slice _

Shed a flower; mourner’s guise.

_Swallows earth and spits the crow _

First to rot and last to grow.

_Then is silent, cloaked in white _

Name forgottend, out of sight.

_Shadow’s stomach; last light’s weep _

No one listens, no one speaks.

_Eyes fall prey to winter’s blight _

Died in death, and lived by night.

_And sink to drown; eternal sleep._

But I’ll remember: Kaitlyn Lee.