The sound of muffled laughter,
Tantalizing giveaway of hide n seek.
One we've been playing for years.
The hiding itself is now hidden,
Deep under the surface.
Seeking, forgotten.
Rendered almost impossible by this deep, dark;
seemingly impenetrable space.
We know we exist,
Conjoined,
The light throwing light on both of our existence;
The dark swallowing one,
And merging with another.
I've always been slightly afraid of you,
For you grow bigger as the light dims.
You flicker with the flame
You take shape on walls and streets.
Unbound by body or dimensions.
Vast, with the perspective.
Existence without features,
Featured only on silhouettes.
Today I noted you were amiss,
Faint flicker, almost sick.
A familiar pang of nostalgia.
Afraid though I maybe,
You were a part of me.
My existence in the world of dark.
Devoid of speech, enriched with imagination;
To exist in the dark you needed the light on me.
This apparent weakness made you less threatening,
More human.
Strange how humans are defined by their weakness,
and shadows by the strength of their definition.
I extended a hand to you.
Slowly, creeping along the walls you approached.
Little did I know you were afraid of me too.
Decades spent so far away.
While being inexplicably close.
A sudden warm feeling of kinship,
Almost like love.
A new kind of love,
Born of kindness for you,
Existing within me, for me.
I put forth a finger and so did you,
The mirror of the otherworld.
Maybe, that's why walls take shape of residents.
You're the mirror connecting us.
Fascinating, your shape.
Born of me, but so much more dynamic.
And we merged.
You're so much more than a figment of fear,
A fleetingly permanent extension of me, like this arm.
It was never a game,
It was a dance.
You and me, me and me.
One palm, two hands.
And maybe,
One soul, two shadows.
