Never Play with Your Shadow

Never Play with Your Shadow

Never play with your shadow,

it lingers with patient ease,

stretching long in the evening hush,

whispering through the trees.

It dances where the lamplight fades,

spilling across the stone,

but take its hand too eagerly,

and you won’t walk alone.

It knows the paths the lost have tread,

where silence eats the sound,

where echoes twist and footsteps sink

but never meet the ground.

It waits in pools of candlelight,

in corners cold and thin,

pressing close when you forget

how long it’s always been.

A trick of dusk, a phantom shape,

a game you shouldn’t start,

for shadows slip through open doors

and find the cracks in hearts.

It whispers when the world is still,

when night is wide and deep,

it curls around your weary limbs

and lulls you into sleep.

But do not dream within its arms,

don’t let it take you in,

for shadows feast on those who stray,

and playmates grow too thin.

So let it trail behind you,

but never heed its call,

for shadows lead to nowhere bright,

and night will take us all.