A Cobra in Fall

I don’t understand

          why, when you

Shed your skin,

                    the scales remain beneath.

Through

          this layer and that,

                    your eyes cloudy like milk,

          you keep blooming.

With new fangs,

          with a flickering new tongue,

you wind your way

          through     Autumn’s     scales,

                    your blood as

                    cold as the Rain,

blind to me

          unless I move.