Such Joy

by Mary Eileen Knoff


I’m still here after ten year’s time
alongside this reed-lined pond
beyond my yard, down a stoney slope,

finding simple joy in

a row of goslings following parent geese
a great blue heron gliding behind green reeds
red-winged blackbirds standing watch in bare trees.

Some summer nights my sleep disturbed
by croaking frogs, I consider leaving,
then begin to miss their bark

as I miss the geese who gather and fly
off to warmer climes when chill winds bite
and the pond grows silent 

until one day

I spy noses peeking through the ice,
three otters come to play,
to tumble, nibble reed roots,

slip away.


* * * * *

"Such Joy" 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.