SHADOWLAND

We are not among the living,

But we are neither among the dead,

Hovering somewhere in-between,

Where all souls fear to tread.

Blinded by the sparkling light,

They are oblivious to our pain,

They have banished us to the shadows,

And it is here we must now remain.

We reach out toward the warmth,

Of our long-abandoned lives,

But our ice-cold touch is rebuffed,

And sweet mercy is denied.

We can no longer feel the sun,

Though its light lingers just behind,

We can no longer grasp the morning,

So, to the darkness, we are resigned.

Relegated to this bleak blackness,

This punishment for what crime?

Exiled to this barren wasteland,

Sentenced without reason or rhyme.

Oh, to be among the Others!

To again taste life’s tender embrace,

To openly dance in the sunlight,

To feel it shine upon our face!

To turn our downward glance upward,

To bask in the glorious glow,

To spin in the radiant rays,

To relish it long and slow.

Mere memories long-remembered,

Shades of what might have been,

Bitter, punishing reminders,

Of that which was taken by the wind.

Set apart from what once mattered,

We are on the outside looking in,

Outcasts, outsiders, pariahs,

Ever-longing to begin life again.

When we think we have our fate mastered,

The ever-looming clouds appear once more,

Announcing their ominous presence,

And their wretchedness down again pours.

Weary of feeling worthless and hollow,

Of longing for what is long gone,

No matter how vehemently we deny it,

To our past lives, we are roused and are drawn.

We cry out in torment to the Others,

“Please, hearken and bend to our pleas!”

But we are met with indifference and silence,

Our sorrows but words in their breeze.

For while worshipping in their sunlight,

They have neglected to glance our way,

We are silhouettes too dim to matter,

As they dance through their merry days.

We brush up against their coattails,

Meager whispers in their deaf ears,

They have forgotten the sounds of us,

Mere specters who now fill them with fear.

We are ghosts which serve to haunt them,

Flickering phantoms, ethereal and pale,

Forgotten, ignored, tossed aside,

We are hidden behind the veil.

For if they acknowledged our presence,

Peered into the shadows and gazed,

Perhaps they’d see regrets and transgressions,

Or be forced to face the forms they might take.

Yet, we cannot wholly blame the Others,

For their world was once likely our own,

We, too, looked away from the darkness,

Neglected the unfortunate forgotten souls.

But now that we are at once among them,

How we long to feel the light of day,

To awaken from this endless cruel nightmare,

Is this a dream which is too far away?

Are we forever by the chasm separated?

Are we indeed past the point of no return?

Are the matters which divide and conquer,

So vast we cannot breach them, cannot learn?

Our hope, our glimmer, and our passion:

From their stupor, they’ll someday awake,

And with no second thoughts or backward glances,

They will rescue us from our dark fate.

Save us from this desert, this Shadowland,

Where we are something just shy of whole,

Envelop us with their gentleness and grace,

Bring light to our anguished, daunted souls.