Nautilus

her eyelids in sleep
lower lid curling retractions
soft-bodied mollusks, something
boneless, tidal

caught in the shock of touch
already oceanic, aqueous
humor rises, lifting her cornea
swale shifting skin

eye a restless autonomy
in low-light sepia
the room so dim, breath trails
inky over ridges on her lips

did you know squid eyes
have round lenses
see through perfect spheres
in their flat lidlessness

did you know chromatophores
look like the pores high on her cheeks
and change color by shifting pigments
shifting reflections

did you know in 316 days bigfin reef squid
have lived their flesh from polyp to debris,
exhausted microscopic organs,
and she in sleep, newly temperate

sighs rough with beginning