Ernest Knowles ©1974

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Sitting on the frost-covered dock since first light this morning,

I’ve been blessed by nature in a double way.

From massive, snarled oaks on a hill across the river,

the October leaves,

Warm-colored by weeks of frost and cold,

are reflected on the dark blue water surface,

and I see them twice.

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In the misted morning twilight,

before I could see the sun above the land,

The colors of my twice-seen leaves and sky were muted,

even a little dull.

But now the sun has crested the hill and the trees behind me,

and my leaves and water and sky

have come vibrantly to life.

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Aware only of the still crispness of the air and my frosted breath,

I feel detached in time and place, and uncertain which of the

double images is real.

A wisp of air ripples the surface of my water and

gives my answer,

and I am carried with it.

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The small wavelets disturb nature’s exact reproduction,

and makes it into a

moving, changing, iridescent,

blended color image,

That will never again be just the same.

And neither will I!