The Game of Shadows
By
Dr. G. Rauf Roashan
Whenever I open my eyes to what’s past
I see myself swimming in the shadows
Shadows dark and black
In creepy narrow passages
Shadows small and big
Sometimes blurry sometimes huge
Sometimes the shadow of a body
Standing erect or bowing down
Shadows sometimes fixed
Sometimes shivering and sometimes quiet
Sometimes fallen under my feet on the ground
And sometimes on the wall
Sometimes this way, sometimes that
Shadows, sometimes like paintings and prints
Sometimes shapely sometimes like demons
Sometimes in my hands sometimes under my feet
And sometimes in my front and sometimes behind
Sometimes in the shape of my beloved
Lovely and attractive
Sometimes the object between the shadow and light
Sometimes the light behind the object and in the distance
At times admonitory
And at times in conflict with feelings
Sometimes dark like the color of hate
And at others the hated shadow of arrogance
Sometimes the scary shadow of war
And sometimes the shadow of deception and trickery
This one, the shadow of friendship
And the other, the shadow of discord and separation
This one is the shadow of false pride
This other one does not have a shadow it is love and light
Shadows like dark clouds
At times like monsters at winter solstice
And I, busy with the frame of shadows
Busy with dreaming and making of effigies
Now shadows, you tell of your own world
Search for life in your darkness
Of shadows in a silent world
Sometimes evident
Sometimes forgotten
Tell of fear in the darkness
Tell of pain in its width and length
Tell of the many profound sorrows
Tell of the games of this strange world
Tell of the heights
Tell of mourning and of happiness
Tell of your quivering in front of the candle
And of bitter weeping in company
Tell of fears and of the unknown
Tell of reality and of make-believe
Of friendship and animosity
And of keeping away from the light
Of shortness and being long
Of content and of dancing
Of the time that you are asleep or when awake
And of the times that you are blind or with sight
Tell of the mirror
Search my shadow in the mirror
Together with delusions
Like futile love affairs
Leave me alone
Stop hurting me
Shadows sometimes like the passing life
And I, bewildered in your path
At times I am running away from you
And on other times I cling to your skirts
Sometimes I am afraid of you
I am concerned and obsessed
Shadows in my eyes
In my calm and in my wrath
Shadows in the dark
I wish you leave me alone
So under the golden rays of a kind sun
I am enabled to cut my path and traverse
And see the world bright and clean
All the way from heavens to the darkest depths
And see everything from all six dimensions bright
And away from the darkness
And call mankind to the light of love
And lay flowers and colors in front of my soul
And in front of everyone
