The shadow

by Bridin Nolan

I had a dream one night,

That upon the town of Slade,

An elemental shadow followed me

In the blank mist of the shade.


I was alone that frozen night,

No one could hear me scream,

Then I woke up in such a horrible fright,

It was only just a dream.


There was a knock upon my bedroom door,

Beside the candle’s flame,

A familiar shadow stepped inside,

I realised it was the same.

The blackness dampened out the dimming little flame,

And the elemental shade crept round the bed’s cold metal frame.


I stood up and tried to evade the shadow,

T’was such a treacherous feat,

I landed in front of the mirror and noticed I was rather incomplete.


I looked the same, no change there,

Same nose, same lips, same jaws,

Same ears, same cheeks, same hair.

But the light beamed from the hallway

Silently without a sound,

I froze up in terror as I looked down at the ground.


There was an absence, I could see,

There was no shadow adjacent to me.

T’was then I looked at the shadow,

In a kind of questioning way,

As it assembled to the shape,

That was mine from day to day.


So I stepped into the shadow, following logic

Not the heart.

For it was only then I learned,

This creature had not got a heart.


It was a freelancer,

A half, not a whole.

Like a singer without lyrics,

Like an actor without its role.


So sad a thing it is to say,

That I should surely miss its shade,

For when I leave it’ll find someone else,

And leave me in my grave.