Shadowlands Poem by Mary Champion

In the beginning,
shackled by ignorance,
he had seen nothing but shadows -
flickering shadows -
simplistic silhouettes of true reality.

For centuries these had been sufficient.
Then they had come with their discomfiting questions,
mining their minds for answers.
Beware of Greeks with unsettling ideas -
forcing their fellows to turn towards the light.

More of them came -
those who loved Wisdom above all,
who braved tormented oceans
of uncertainty in search of Her.
Slowly, over centuries,
the expanding light of Science
began to dispel the shadows.
They became fewer and fainter -
fainter and fainter ….
until the light struck a final blow and banished them all.
Now even the meaning had evaporated.

The meaning had always been hidden in the shadows,
tantalising possibilities of a better world -
a world where the penalties were paid
and the righteous rewarded.
But now the shadows had been vanquished
and the meaning had nowhere to hide.

In his wretched anguish, he raged against the light.
Looking over his shoulder,
he glimpsed the tantalising shadows of the past -
the shallow silhouettes of profound possibilities -
possibilities that had offered hope.

Losing hope,
he turned back to the tempting shadows,
trying to reclaim their comfort.
But he had eaten the fruits of knowledge,
now he knew that they were all illusions -
illusions made manifest by imperfect light,
then banished by looming enlightenment.

Despairing -
he abandoned reason
and plunged into the deep shadows of the abyss.

If only he had, had the courage to continue,
to cross the final frontier that would have perfected his enlightenment -
broken through the dark glass barrier
and finally come to see face to face.