The Language of the Shadow

The Language of the Shadow

What’s the language of the shadow?
Do they even speak?
Do they just scare the lost and lone away?
They have a blooming cheek.

They rise up there upon the walls,
Give children such a fright,
And no one really looks at them,
They’re dark just like the night.

What’s the language of the shadows?
Have you ever heard them speak?
I sat and listened to mine
All of last week.

And not one word was uttered,
But boy, those shadows moved,
I really thought that when they danced,
They certainly had the groove.

My brain said, “Why play with shadows?
That really isn’t cool.
To play around with shadows
Just makes you look a fool.”

You’re probably playing with evil,
And something isn’t right,
When a person’s only friend
Is the shadows of the night.

So maybe give them a wide berth,
Keep them five steps behind,
although you think they’re looking,
They might not be that kind.

My mother said a shadow
Is there to listen and grab,
And then build walls around you,
What a terrible life you’d have.

A life based on just shadows,
With nothing concrete fixed,
Maybe shadows aren’t normal,
They’ll lure you with their tricks.

I believe a shadow is a shadow
Until you start looking for more,
Then it becomes something different,
Something you cannot ignore.

It’ll haunt you till the day you die,
Then come back wanting more,
It creeps across your ceiling
And scratches upon your door.

A shadow comes, it remembers,
A shadow never forgets,
A shadow comes to collect you
And makes you pay your debts.