I NEVER KNEW I HAD A SHADOW

I never knew, I had a shadow

Pushed away to be forgotten

In a space, that gives one draw

Its doors of earth stalled rotten

Like a mummy in an old land –

Nothing matters when it seals  

A man’s emotions are an Island

For no one cares how a man feels

Unless the show is in the money

The beginning, and the ending –

Of how his heart is defined phony

Eclipsed by the darkness pending  

I never knew it was there – dead

Dead, my heart to not take anew

For there is no honour in deed –

If you don’t show another manure 

Selling your soul right to the soil

I never knew, I had a shadow

For the doors of night were silent

Nothing heard, nothing moving

My nature always resigned to it

Knowing a man who fears the dark

Fears the road to his true self –

Like a face that fears an insular bark

A take it or leave it, choice to self

I never knew, I had a shadow

Pushed away to be forgotten

In a space, that gives one draw –

Until the light began to rise!

By Linda Sakazi Thwala

Linda Sakazi Twala