Shadows Poem by Chris Ernest Nelson

by Chris Ernest Nelson

What can shadows tell us about ourselves?
They follow us closely in sunlight
and in moonlight,
and even in the darkest night
they dance with bright city lights.
Such dark witnesses, always willing
to keep our secrets,
but balking at our lies.

Where are we leading them,
they follow like hungry dogs?
Or do they chase? They hound our heels
and drive us on with desires we dare not meet?
Though we run with leaning steps and frantic breath,
the dark animal keeps his pace and seems to gain
with every backward glance.
So close we feel his heat.

Or are shadows our intimate fools
who mock us and ridicule us
knowing too well our missteps and delays?
No friend would dare such oppressive intimacy;
no lover would endure so bold an eclipse.
Yet if we tire of the game,
could we abandon them in some dark doorway
or leave them to find their way alone?