Category: Shadow Poetry

Shadow Poetry

themis

Daphne Shadows2 Comments

do you ever lose a moment

to the ever present night?

only to realize too late

it was swallowed by the light?

i think we have it wrong

i think we’re quite confused

it’s never the dark that takes

it’s the bright lights that use

they hide behind their masks

and pretend to hold a flame

what we all new was truth

and never could quite tame

true light in the darkness

when real, is well and good

but nothing teaches better

than being lost in the abyss would

and don’t we feel all alone

in the cold light of day?

instead, a warm embrace

for which we all pray

you don’t need a crutch

you need to learn to see

when you squint against the sun

moments lost to eternity.

Shadow Poetry

silhouettes

Daphne Shadows2 Comments

i always remember

how the darkness

touched your tongue

when they forced you

into the light

your shadow drowned

their malice, their deceptions

found the fissures

dissolved your color

now you’re dull

on their pedestal

made of gold

but i’ll always remember

how you were ablaze

moon kissed and warm

Shadow Poetry

act none

Daphne Shadows2 Comments

i think i heard the last one

i think i heard it falling

but every time i look

there’s a blinding light calling

they said i shouldn’t try

i’d only taste more pain

i really did attempt

but i simply couldn’t refrain

now there’s a naked procession

a broken crown on the floor

an empty throne down the hall

and it’s not so cold anymore.

by Daphne Shadows

Shadow Poetry

Blood & Salt

Daphne ShadowsLeave a comment

I have days
Where I wish
I wasn’t

My fingertips
Burning
With all this
Broken belief

Broken mirrors
Full of dreams
I naively
Dreamt

There are all
These rules
Where I just
Don’t belong

My soul
Is a song
No one wants
To sing

Hope is
A betrayer
A siren song
Sweet lullaby
Sweeping in
To caress

Only,
I don’t see
Until it’s too late
The charcoal claws
Coming for
My soft underbelly

Carving out the warmth
Leaving me hollow
In bed sheets
Wet with blood and salt
Tears I didn’t know
I had left

No porcelain grave
To weep for
My loss

I am barred
From slumber
Repreive

I am begging
For magic
On my knees
Before the abyss

When I’m honest
Alone with
The helpless child
And monster
In me
I wish
I wish I wasn’t

by Daphne Shadows

Shadow Poetry

physio logical

Daphne Shadows2 Comments

remember to breathe into the still moments

the ones decorated with your tears, hiding in the background

the small ember of hope, dancing just out of reach

they’re waiting for you

to see them

touch them

remember to breathe into the painful moments

the one’s teaching you something, scars leaving behind your map

the large expanse of needing, underneath the floorboards

they’re built in

already used up

but renewable

remember to breathe into the forgotten moments

the one’s that broke you, leaving breadcrumbs behind your eyes

subtle hiccups of laughter and sunshine, as winter douses your flames

they’re lovely

love letters

savour them

remember to breathe into the unwanted moments

i know they hurt, but you’re stronger than their framework

your foundation is made of pillow talk and early morning dances

you can do this

they whisper

keep going

remember to breathe into the silence

and when it comes, you will be ready

to hear its brilliance

written inside

your bones

By Daphne Shadows

Shadow Poetry

you

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You tiptoed into my soul without my say so, slinging all these empty glass jars out of my closet and into my rib cage, breaking the siren song of eternal silence against the wall of this slippery, pumping, bloody mess that keeps me alive.

That’s a falsity. You didn’t tiptoe. You brushed your fingers through the sand, dug them into my scalp, kicking up all these embers until I was choking on the smoke of my own madness. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like it.

I don’t know if I should smile ’til you’re on your knees or batter up and swing, let you burn inside my skin or bury you under your audacity to waltz into my heart.

So I’m standing on a doorway, sleeping under a fence, waking in between, drowning in the liminal. Fire dripping off my lips, teeth bared, trying to get a hold on reality. there’s a blurry sign somewhere but I’ve gone blind under the weight of the unknown. patience isn’t my thing, you see. dangerous, to make me wait.

I am neither walking on sunshine nor hunting the darkness to render my nightmares broken and this is confusing to me. I am not that way on a normal day.

So what’s me? The parts you don’t see:

I’m a wild animal, sweet and carefree until you realize I’m a predator and you’re all alone, where you’ve given yourself over to me, signed before you saw me. straight for the kill and you’ll learn. oh, you’ll learn. I am a wildfire you asked for but didn’t expect. I am the lightning scorching the darkness in the tornado outside your door. I am sweeping the blood from your veins and sending mmmmmm down your spine. I am the monster gripping your breath as you slide your feet back under the covers in the middle of the night. I am the last thing you feel, an inch of steel in your throat, before you can’t open your mouth anymore.

but

you

and suddenly, I am…

I am unsure if I’m going to hurt because of you or love you

I guess it depends

who are you?

Shadow Poetry

coiled

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I am a live fire or flatlining and nothing else.

I am broken glass and feathery down.

Starless night and sun soaked waves.

I am everything that aches when no one is looking and radiant joy in moments unspoken.

I am here. An empty memory I cannot remember. A boundless emptiness pretty much anyone with the right key can find.

By Daphne Shadows

Shadow Poetry

patchwork stitchwork

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do you remember?

before the veil? beyond the pale?

do you remember?

after the fall? when you took it all?

i remember

how she swept the night. rigged the fight.

i remember

when you stole my blood. left a letter in the mud.

i can’t tell you

for the chain on my heart. my pain is your art.

i’ll learn

from every new stroke. i’ll fix what you broke.

i’ll make one that’s new

one that sees me, not you.

by Daphne Shadows