One’s Androgynous Shadow
by Odin Roark

If only…

If only we thought more kindly,
Allowed the warrior to be daring,
The maternal to appear diffident,
The endowed virtue as oneness.

For where is it said
That man is only this,
Woman only that?

Did Nature evolve gendered life for separation,
Or as a collective to function in harmony?

To be physically male or female
Conflicts not DNA’s sensitive norms,
For to know oneself is to understand biological reality,
Its reward often kept in shadows of self-acknowledgement enjoyed,
Yet seldom shared.

Perhaps one day,
More than a few of us
Will come of age,
Rise above limiting mirrors,
Embrace innate honesty,
And reveal the essence of a sword’s artistry
Is but to defend life’s nurturing instinct.

To discover such definition,
The dignity and solemn truth of one’s androgynous shadow,
Is to set free the all-loving child held captive within,
To finally realize what it is to mature.

If only.