A Moment of Silence
A piece that unravels as it goes on.
It contains a lot of metaphors.
What is a shadow?
It is, in my opinion, a part of ourselves that we don’t always choose to see.
It’s always right there, a part of who we are, but we ignore or push it away
Living as though it doesn’t exist
There are dreams we have that we don’t always understand
And there are dreams we have also created and watched die
Or fade away, right in front of our eyes — going into the shadow
The shadow is a place of silence where dead things go
Or perhaps they aren’t really dead, as they are still a part of us
Rather, they have been locked away and replaced by something
Or someone we think is more reachable
We treat a piece of ourselves like it doesn’t exist
Until one day when we suddenly catch a glimpse of it
I don’t remember much of my childhood
I probably learned how to bury certain things then
And I only catch glimpses of what they could have been
When I’m forced to remember, and sometimes I don’t
I have dug holes many times, burying
Bad dreams and bad decisions
Sad memories and bitter feelings
Terrible words and painful experiences
Inside my shadow
I think most of us use our shadows that way at times
Then comes a time we want to see colours and flowers
Bloom in our lives
Often times, it’s when we see someone doing better than we are
Especially when we aren’t so different
We want to see the colours they see
We want to have flowers bloom around us so beautifully
Then we might say to our shadow, ‘Now I see you’
But you can’t wait until you are where you want to be
To stare at the ugly things you’ve left behind
Or revive your dreams as you would with a dying plant
There has been a moment of silence for a very long time
And maybe now, even in a state of uncertainty
Is the time for you to create colours in your life again
And be okay with moving forward, even if it means failing
So, you won’t hesitate to gaze at the part of yourself
That will never go away — your shadow
