Me and My Shadow 

by Laurie Phillips

My shadow is the darkness,

That black knight on his

Fabulous black horse,

He of Apocalypse fame,

Who charges through my dream time,

Assaulting my senses with horror,

A nightmare switchback of blood and bones,

Tearing limb from limb.

Everyone has their shadow,

Their dark side they prefer hidden,

Covered up, disowned, disenfranchised,

Yet actions come from the unconscious,

And the greater the denial,

The greater the danger;

Your shadow takes you over,

With a divine deliverance

Which shocks and shatters.

Stories of the religiously upright,

Whose perverse sexual behaviours

Suddenly pop into the limelight,

Or pillars of society

Who are revealed to have

Dirty damning secrets,

All are products of the shadow,

Banished and abandoned,

Unwelcome and unwanted.

Make friends with your shadow,

There’s diamonds to be discovered

In the dense dark shit hole

Of those blemished, blasted caves,

Within the confines of your mind.

Welcome and face the mirror,

Look that ink black nightmare

Straight in the eye and say

“Yes,  that’s me too,

Welcome friend.”