Mercy Tolentino Steenwyk

“When your lively head is bowed
The bright of night floating about
You cast a shadow
In the womb
Deep in your mind.

Each step you take
A quiver, a thousand more
Coming and going. The
silver bright above floating.

Shedding light, a precipice
To discover. Let the sound
Of night play your shadows
Until they sway your dance
Until they start to whisper why.

And start to form two shadows
In the night. One so black and
So small, so close by your side.

The other, chases you, stares at you
So flimsy and so big, so graceful
In the slant.

Take each in a dance
Until both shadows and light
Around, slowly, gently
Lift your bowed head
With a question so vibrant
You look up to understand
Past the brightest moon
Past the eclipse in the darkest night.

Straight up into the heavens
You start to sing praises and all
The shadows they create. You sang
The highest praise and the sweetest
For the clarity they bestowed.

In one mysterious step
I understood my shadow following me.”