Shadow

Oh, shadow, closest friend
Closer than a brother
Most trusted, most faithful
Ever present companion


In greatest joy and harshest adversity
Thou art by my side
In scorching heat and bitter cold
Thou stands naked, clothed only in the wraith of mine rainment


Thou hast stood with me all the days of my life
Only through eternal slumber shalt our fellowship be sundered


But shadow, pray tell, where dost thou go when the light fades?
When setting sun and twilight's glow lengthen and diminish thee
When darkness like a tidal wave smothers all in its ebony pallor
When the foul fiends of night swarm like vultures over a fresh carcass


When my courage fails and I retreat to my bedchamber for comfort
When beasts, real and imagined, rise up to assault my senses
When harsh cries and mournful wails make me faint with terror
When every hound of hell encircles me, waiting


Wherefore art thou, shadow?
Dost thou flit away like a raven takes wing?
Soaring into the inky night to rejoin your unkindness?
Or dost thou slither like a serpent into the depths of darkness
Free at last from the shackles of mortal man


For deep in my nightly terrors thou abandon me
Thou art no comfort, no solace,
I stand alone against the foul fiend


Art thou a coward?
Content to follow yet never lead?
No protection from grievous harm
Would you merely tell the tale?


Or art thou something more?
Something dark and sinister?
When the murky gloom comes and your chains are unbound
When piercing light is nowhere to be found
Do you grow to enormous proportions?
Do you assault body and mind?
Swallow me whole and become the foul fiend?




Line count: 37