Sleek Shadows

by Mary Eileen Knoff


This sunny December Saturday
reedy fringe twins itself
in the still sapphire pond,

bent over like Narcissus, 
greedy to glimpse
its own reflection,

so brilliant today 
these sleek shadows seem,
I almost take the twin for real.


 * * * * *

"Sleek Shadows" belongs to a collection Mary Eileen Knoff has been crafting over a decade while observing life on a pond beside her home in Redmond, Washington. Her personal pathway to life beside the pond crisscrossed the U.S., beginning with a childhood in southeast Michigan, winding through careers in teaching, freelance writing, editing, and the contemplative ministry of spiritual companioning. Observing the pond and writing about it has deepened Eileen’s commitment to a contemplative life. Some of Eileen’s earlier poems and reflections appear in Seasoning the Soul (2nd edition, 2018) and a Facebook blog Eileen Knoff, writer and soulfriend.