Among The Shadows Poem by Daniel Brick

Have you considered amassing
SHADOWS, grabbing them
as they float slowly through the night,
stuffing them in bushels or baskets
you carry on your nocturnal walks?
No one else is doing this. Some accidently
snag a shadow and release it
in their homes. All done in ignorance.
But for you and me no ignorance
interferes with purpose. We are alike
in our mission. Am I wrong to assert
we know each other, pure and simple,
no need to elaborate before joining fortunes?

It's agreed: we will walk together. Shadows
are born in twilight air. Meet me at the moment
the owl's outline fades into that twilight
and its hootings parallel the deepening darkness.
Street lights cast their garish brightness
into the corridors of night. We will leave
such ordinary light behind us and plunge
into darkness, like divers dropping into
the depths which summon them. They know
the dangers but cannot resist the thrills.
Are we not like that - proud of our daring?
We are joined and pledged. The darkness envelops
us, growing denser as we advance further into night.

We have left behind the adolescents racing
their bikes, the older women doing embroidery,
the young men confused by the attentions
of the young women, the old men, tapping canes
on hard ground, exercize their sore limbs.
All of them have withdrawn into an inner daylight,
while we seek immersion in the real darknesss.
We will quickly blend into a mode of things
that has endured for eons without the presence
of light. Already our outlines waver, then break
apart. We have been swallowed into the realm
of shadows. Silence envelops us in its spell.
Silence pulls us out of ourselves as we walk in wonder.

The shadows offer no resistance to our bodies
slicing through their empty forms. Their pure
thoughts penetrate our brains and take up residence
along with our native thoughts. So united, shadows
and selves become an amorphous whole. How long
will we remain poised in this strange union?
Time is suspended, space occurs elsewhere.
Here and now we are translated into pure spirits
meeting purer spirits on common ground. This is
the place from Lord Odysseus fled in fear. We feel
no fear as we pass row after row of shadows,
who bow as we pass them, so surprised we acknowledge
them. The night shifts, and we all plunge into a deeper being.