Almost Imagined (Silk Creek)

Almost Imagined (Silk Creek)

At the edge of the gorge, I squelch my lamp

and stare into an absence, or what appears

to be absence. Darkness, uniformly black,

featureless. Slowly, imperceptibly, individual

trees appear. Beside, behind,

a forest takes shape and deepens, one tree

at a time. The gash of gorge lightens

until a faint swath of creek materializes,

almost imaginary. But loud.

Branches become visible. Then: an owl

In the maple beside me. Twinned moons

shine gold from the disc of its face.

I have nothing to add but a shiver.

Mary Stebbins

From the Silk Creek Retreat.

This poem appears in the current (Summer 2005) issue of Avocet, A Journal of Nature Poems. Please send your poems, too.