Once I was a tiny fragment
a speck of dust reflecting the moonshine
away so no one could see 
the entity that was me.

There was greatness in me
that  I didn't let anyone see,
hiding away, retracting the light,
let only out in the 
protecting cover of night,

A thousand broken shards of pain,
inside of me nothing remained,
washed away by harsh words 
and thunderous voices,
by dirty trench war
and false sweet noises.

I was but a shadow in the mist 
of a distant echo,
reflecting ever so faint the flame 
that desperately tried to remian.

Voices to my left and to my right,
beckon me away from the light.
Disguised as love, whispers sweet,
bend me to submission, named me the heat.

A heart  in shackles, enslaved, snared,
falsified by them that was feared,
lay in hiding, abiding time,
lost reason, a tactless rhyme.

Melody out of tune,
my heart became immune
to love.
immune to mysteries that beckon
me above.

And so it was that I became 
the shadow that remained.