[Elle Bruno]

Thank you for sharing this Mary. I hadn't read it before.

I'm going to take a couple of the previous interpretations one step further and speculate that this is not just meant as a longing for death but the actual passing into death. She recalls her previous imaginings of death (with her past fears that the end might be 'unkind' -an angry or judgmental God) but she now see how easy, how smooth, how simple this trip is. It is like skating on a river with a friend. I understand Maryann's thoughts that river skating is inherently more dangerous but I think the poet chooses the river because it goes somewhere. Lakes only go in circles.
I love the doubling up of 'on, on' and 'fast, fast' -one can feel the one-two of each foot shoving off, picking up momentum.
The last line is killer.
Yes, quite Emily-like. Odd and moving.

Please, for the FV crowd, can someone explain the metrics here?
Thanks, Dee