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The Shadow Dwellers

Emerging from my teens I had a head full of ghosts to escape from - inhabitants of an inner world I kept to myself. Future life was over there, at the end of a train line, a long road, the last port of call on a ship's long voyage. I could never get far enough away - they always found me hiding in some masquerade, a clever cover concocted to conceal - at times I even fooled myself. Mirrors were a bane, they told the truth and so I learned to look away. A lifetime on they are still with me but now I know each by name. There are days when they draw close and become weepy as if seeking love, though still afraid to leave the refuge of my shadow.

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Di11y Da11y

Date: 3/20/2025 2:38:00 AM

I wanted to.comment on this the day you posted but couldn't find the right words. It's not a poem that should just disappear, so I'll fave it. It connects so deeply on what being an aware human consists of. I cannot imagine how others don't know the haunting and the edge of knowing feeling. The last stanza is very moving. As I say, I'm not sure how to express about this poem, just that it connected..

Paul Willason
Date: 3/21/2025 2:01:00 AM

Difficult one this....very much about recognising that we carry remnants of the child still hiding in the shadows of fear or silence or for any number of reasons. It's the progress towards liberation and that involves learning self acceptance, letting go and seeing your true nature in its own goodness. Becoming whole. Moved by your comments DD, you always have an innate intuition, much treasured. Take care,Paul

Daniel Henry Rodgers

Date: 3/19/2025 6:05:00 AM

Hello Paul, O' so haunting and intimate, like a quiet reckoning with the ghosts we carry. I feel the weight of distance, of escape that never quite frees us, of shadows that learn our names. There’s something deeply human here, beautifully vulnerable. A poem of quiet truth. Spring Blessings, My Dear Friend, Daniel

Paul Willason
Date: 3/21/2025 1:45:00 AM

I thank you Daniel for your thoughtful, sensitive and compassionate comments. I think we all have shadows and within those shadows there are perhaps remnants of the child seeking absolution or acceptance or love. All part of the growth journey, shedding the armour and fear. Value your comments Daniel....take care, Paul