Shadow-Chasing
by Odin Roark

Sunlight and key light reality
Loves to taunt the conscience,
Tease the nemesis of the past.

Some of the haunted continue begging it follow,
This background preparation,
This lesson still to be learned,
Even as its darkened shape morphs to remain hidden.

How spurious its nature,
Whether archived words lurking
In the wings of our minds,
Or the residual of passing personal storms
Keeping slippery the footpath of progress,
Shadow-chasing remains illumination’s unfair game.

To run head on into the shining
Leaves the past in retreat.
To run away from the luminescence
Places the villain just out of reach.

Why must its every move match our every dodge?
Even to stand still is to wait for its encirclement,
For the sun’s patience is eternal,
And the glimmer of one’s day
Forebears an ego infested perception,
Catering to solipsistic obsession
Where pondering one’s life without it
With it
In spite of it
Often makes luminosity’s conundrum unsolvable.

Like a light bulb to a moth,
We remain attracted
Until the mistaken voltage of choice
Lures us into coveted compliance
And takes away our life.

Shadows
That which we chase
That which chases us
Ultimately convincing many
To drag behind such silhouetted asylum
Is to ignore enigmatic weight
Increasing the burden
Often beyond measure.

Shadow-chasing
Presents the question:
Prey or predator?