Light Shadows – a poem of grief and bliss

For years, I did my work.
I pounded, weeped, created,
Frustrated, cried out and held in.
I pressed into shadows that
Alternately enticed me and scared me
To death.

And that is why I died.
A kind of death that never sees
The light.
It hovered in shadows for that was
The only life it had ever known.

Then, I grieved.
At first, I thought it was only for the people,
Places,
Things
That had meant so much to me.
But these were not the core
Of my grief.
No,
My grief was over those parts of me that I
Held as so valuable over the years:
Those aspects and interjects
That seemed to rule my life
Without choice or consciousness
About their coming vicissitude.

Yes, it’s true, at some point
They were my protectors,
Defenders and sometimes even
Benefactors.
But they did not hold real sway
In my life.
In fact, they were precisely what
Kept me from swaying

The way a ship does when the
Water first starts to get choppy;
Barely perceptible on the deck,
But life-changing for those in
The rigging.
A sway that comes like a lullaby
And a calling;
That rocks me
Wide awake.

Like the creatures and stories of myth,
Then,
I rise from old shadows to new shadows:
This time, some of my shadows are
Made of light.
They dance, either behind me like
Shadows of Old,
But more often in front of me.
Like a door opening before me,
Light Shadows
Invite me to
Becoming,
Beauty,
Beholding,
Bliss
In ways that I had only imagined
Before.

“I open my heart to create a world where people are enlivened to appreciate and co-create beauty.”

~ Created by Stan Stewart
~ Copyright © 2013, 2019 by Stan Stewart and muz4now, inc. All rights reserved.