Faith in Reflection

The woman and her bicycle know
this street back and forth
even when it floods, and her feet
splash in the water with each
downward pump dripping up
from her reflection.

Her wake blurs her passage;
ahead house dwellers stand dry
on steps and wonder
when waters will recede
to dust again or if the flood
conceals a hole, a cliff
lurking below in pool silence.

They stare at the woman on her bicycle
pedal by in so much faith.
They pray she reaches her destination.
They pray she returns like she always does.
They pray that around the corner
a sinkhole doesn't swallow her
and her wake ripples against curbs
no longer in place.