My Shadow

notes to a former self

Head’s on fire
Racing bumps pacing
Thumps antsy thoughts
What are they chasing?
They’re chasing a shadow
I think it might be me

There it goes again
Where I can almost see
Bending to stretch about corners
Running circles after the tail end
Eating obstacles like candy
She’ll make you remember
When everything you bought was free

Once I almost caught
A frisky edge of black
Grasped tightly in my hands
But looking down I was without
There she goes again
Off, down that maze of alley
Her laughter trails behind
In a haze of carnival ride glee
The high of what I’m after
The lighter side of things
Isn’t always so easy to find
When morning fog snakes through
Every facet of a haggard mind

’Til an orange dawn I awoke
To see she’d gone to sleep
The curtains were all askew
A breeze whispered gently
Tickling my lonesome ear
Eyes flutter in lids, seeing her
It was to be a bluebird day
There were no more shapes to fear
For she’d slipped, found her way
Back inside of me