Survival Lives in a Long Shadow
Written on 6th October, 2025
Placed 1st in: Long Shadows Poetry
Contest by Craig Cornish.
Placed 7th in: 2025 Poetry Marathon Mile 22 by Mark Toney.
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The lone street lamp stood a meter away,
a long shadow stretched from its foot to my feet
and beyond—into endless darkness,
where owls howl in unity,
their songs the only rhythm the night danced to.
The emptiness that greeted my first day on the street
was ubiquitous and ominous—
fear and loneliness were luminous on its belly.
Yet my resolve to survive burned like fire in my eyes.
The street—like it or not—had to swallow me whole.
My new home would be roofless, without bricks.
Life must move with me from a house of no love
to dwell where my heart lies and my feet are planted.
It must learn to inhabit a darkness
that's oblivious of fear or despair.
Life, too, must learn to feed a hungry belly
and a thirsty throat with strength forged in lack.
It must grow used to the long shadow~
of this lone street lamp,
for somewhere in its long gut lies all I need to survive.
So let its rays pierce deeper into my being—
let it know, without being told,
that I am clinging to it for survival.
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