Poems about Shadows and Darkness

These are poems about shadows, poems about darkness, poems about shades in the form of ghosts and spirits... Shadows by Michael R. Burch Alone again as evening falls, I join gaunt shadows and we crawl up and down my room's dark walls. Up and down and up and down, against starlight—strange, mirthless clowns— we merge, emerge, submerge...then drown. We drown in shadows starker still, shadows of the somber hills, shadows of sad selves we spill, tumbling, to the ground below. There, caked in grimy, clinging snow, we flutter feebly, moaning low for days dreamed once an age ago when we weren't shadows, but were men... when we were men, or almost so. What is life? The flash of a firefly. The breath of the winter buffalo. The shadow scooting across the grass that vanishes with sunset. —Blackfoot saying, translation by Michael R. Burch Leaves like crows’ shadows flirt with a lonely moon. —Fukuda Chiyo-ni, translation by Michael R. Burch War stood at the end of the hall in the long shadows —Watanabe Hakusen, translation by Michael R. Burch Snapshot by Mehmet Akif Ersoy translation by Michael R. Burch Earth’s least trace of life cannot be erased; even when you lie underground, it encompasses you. So, those of you who anticipate the shadows: how long will the darkness remember you? Hiroshima Shadows by Michael R. Burch The intense heat and light of the Hiroshima atomic bomb left ghostly shadows of human beings imprinted in concrete. Hiroshima shadows ... mother and child... Oh, when will our hearts ever be beguiled to end mindless war ... to seek peace, reconciled to our common mortality? Where We Dwell by Michael R. Burch Night within me. Never morning. Stars uncounted. Shadows forming. Wind arising where we dwell reaches Heaven, reeks of Hell. Bound by Michael R. Burch, circa age 14 Now it is winter—the coldest night. And as the light of the streetlamp casts strange shadows to the ground, I have lost what I once found in your arms. Now it is winter—the coldest night. And as the light of distant Venus fails to penetrate dark panes, I have remade all my chains and am bound. When last my love left me by Michael R. Burch, circa age 16 The sun was a smoldering ember when last my love left me; the sunset cast curious shadows over green arcs of the sea; she spoke sad words, departing, and teardrops drenched the trees. Keywords: shadows, darkness, dark, night, sunset, winter, moon, stars, evening, starlight, despair, war