One Day Our Shadows 

Will Hit the Ground Running

We keep our tragedies hidden,

choosing instead to live 

by design.

Those who reach for Personas

often do so because their truth 

went unaccepted

by those around them 

at an early age.

A Persona enables

an individual to adapt

to society's demands.

Personas serve as a template

and are often chosen 

for their integrity.

To be rejected for 

how one truly feels

causes a wound. 

The wound heals over 

but leaves a scar

on the psyche

that like a burn 

continues 

to blaze beneath

the surface years later. 

A Persona is a way 

to live with a wound 

because the pain 

finds camouflage

and can be hidden

from others.

Personas allow us 

to stand apart from 

who we are inside

by the acquisition of 

a template

for behavior and

consistently adhering to it. 

From here on

the Persona will live

life for us;

an invisible barrier 

between who one was 

and who one wishes

one was. 

One now must live

defending the Persona

as over time it metamorphoses

into a brand. 

Brands are marks

of ownership

like that of a slave.

In this way

one can, in fact,

be one's

own slave.

Personas are generally

positive images,

often admirable

if not entirely good. 

They persuade in order

to keep us in the good graces 

of others who've only ever met 

the Persona 

and not the Original. 

Originals are invariably imperfect.

Having been abandoned

early in life, they remain stunted,

hence dangerous 

because their instincts 

live hidden and are

hopelessly subversive.

The law is: 

That which is interred

in darkness will grow;

potatoes in a drawer

sprouting grotesque

arms and legs.

Eventually eclipsed, 

the Original

continues its life 

un-integrated

and in darkness. 

The Original

is now one’s shadow

and despite how bright

our Personas become

the shadow grows

equally as dark.

If the original was abandoned

at eleven years

the shadow resurfaces 

still at eleven

while we are ourselves

middle aged. 

Our shadows want to live

a life beyond us. 

The Persona must defend

its existence with 

all the pent up energy 

of an ex-con

denied parole. 

That said,

there need only be a breech

for our shadows to bust out

of their confinement

and hit the ground running.

Shadows prefer to set up shop

in a sunny warm climate.

Sunlight strengthens them.

Long tired of dank basements 

and cramped quarters,

they want to make a big stink

and they have revenge on their minds.

Shadows feel their oats

and need to prove their worth.

Having been denied for decades

they're ready to shock us all

right out of our senses.

The moral:

Never bury parts of yourself alive

if you can't find it in your heart

to forgive the world.

2/16/22