The promise

There was no innocence in nature but such an open and aggressive seductiveness that I shied away with a blush and a giggle. The smooth sandy beech on the foreground radiated well-being, invited me to strip and to partake of the light it reflected so efficiently; the wet, dark forest of the background lured me to get lost -- to lose myself -- in its depths, to forget that I had ever existed elsewhere -- else where? There were berries and mushrooms, nuts and fruit; the lake was full of fish, and the beach complete with firewood. And there was I -- pink, naked, infatuated, on the threshold of -- no, I would never leave. Oh yes, I would never leave. Never leave.