There are lessons to be gathered long after the sun has set…
walking in a world made up of shadows and silhouettes.
There is inspiration in the silhouettes and shadows
wherever we may find them:
How they can only be created when there is light behind them.
How shadows have no color, no religion…no immorality…
Silhouettes…no gender, no age, no nationality.
Which makes me wonder the kind of world this would be…
If everyone we met….
concentrated less on all our differences…
and more on our shadows and silhouettes.
The sun and moon may seem like polar opposites but similarities abound…
They’re both round, inhabitants of the sky and they both cast shadows on the ground.
They are both bright, share their light…each one rises and each one sets
and it’s only under their light we discover our changing shadows and shifting silhouettes.
The shadows they cast are sometimes tall…sometimes wide…in the wind they dance a beautiful ballet…every now and then they hide…we can watch them fade away.
Is this just another example of the scope of Mother Nature’s reach…
or could this be another lesson she’s subtly trying to teach?
Yes Mother Nature is amazing…her wisdom continues to astound…
as she reminds us how the light we share casts our shadows on the ground.
If we are blessed enough to be the light in someone’s life…
then how long that light will last…
depends a great deal…on the shadows that we cast.
Sometimes the shadows we cast on others need to be tall…sometimes wide…
sometimes they need to be short…sometimes they need to hide.
Shadows tall and wide…willing to walk with us when we need a smile, a laugh or shed a tear…shadows that know when they’re not needed and silently disappear.
Shadows cast from our light…
meant to enhance our friends's and family’s beautiful ballets…
Shadows we hope they will long remember…
long after our shadow fades away.
We stopped to let them walk by us…an old woman leading and old man
She was apologetic. She said, “Forgive us…we’re moving as fast as we can.”
She said, “you wouldn’t know to see him now”
her face grew sad and long
“but in his day he was big and tall…intelligent and strong.”
She said he was a lawyer…here a smile crossed her face…
and I don’t think in all his life…he ever lost a case.”
She said, “I was a full-time wife and mother.
I was once young and lean and fit.
Together we raised four children…
and I loved every minute of it.
“I also loved to sing and dance and, if the truth be known,
I didn’t always dance with him…sometimes I’d dance alone.”
She smiled at the two of us…a smile both friendly and kind
and I noticed as they passed us
how their shadows walked obediently behind.
And I observed as they walked away…
and to each other’s arms they clung
how their shadows didn’t show the ravages of age…
how their shadows seemed so young…
And I thought wouldn’t it be great if as we all grow older
and begin to walk a little more erratically
if our shadows kept showing silhouettes
of all people we used to be.
How wonderful to be followed by a movie of our life
played out in shadows for all to see…
So people would know not just the old person walking in front of them…
but to all the persons we used to be.
I wonder if our creators were trying to teach us about love…
when, even though we all have a different name,
a different sex, sexual preference and religion,
they created all of our shadows the same
I wonder if they were trying to teach us about acceptance
(an acceptance many of us still lack)
when, as they shine their light from up above,
they created all of our shadows black.
FROM THE SHADOWS
I took my granddaughter, Ava, to watch the sunset
where the ocean meets the land
And I remember being mesmerized by our shadows on the sand.
At first our shadows walked beside us…two shadows blending into one
but they separated and walked behind us as we turned our faces to the sun.
And as we watched the sun drift slowly down and a cool breeze chilled our skin
I had to smile at our shadows snow standing tall and thin.
When the sun was finally tucked in marking the end of another day
I turned around and noticed how our shadows had faded away.
And it got me thinking about shadows..of how the dark and light interchange
of how tentative is our existence and how quickly life can change
And I wondered where do shadows go?
Do they too need their sleep at night
if they are going to have the energy to join us at first light.
And how a shadow is like a good friend who will walk with us…
yet we’re aware
even the times we cannot see them we know that they are there.
And I thought how grandparents are kind of like a shadow
with each granddaughter and grandson
and how we will always be behind them
when they turn their faces to the sun.
How we will always walk beside them
with our support, our love and care
and even when they cannot see us they will know that we are there.
And that they should never worry
if they happen to be mired in the night…
for whenever they need our shadow…
we will gladly bring the light.
One characteristic shared by the sun and moon,
despite the obvious: they’re round,
is when they occupy the sky
they cast shadows on the ground.
They paint their shadows in black and white
from sunrises to moonsets…
constantly shifting shadows
ever changing silhouettes.
Their shadows are sometimes tall and wide.
At times they dance a beautiful ballet.
Every now and then they seem to hide.
And periodically they fade away.
Is this just one more example
of Mother Nature’s reach?
Or could this be another lesson
she is trying desperately to teach?
As parents sometimes the shadow we cast
needs to reach out far and wide.
Sometimes it needs to shorten up,
other times to hide.
Our shadows are here to help our children
to dance a beautiful ballet
so our children can cast their own shadows
once our shadows fade away.
Mother Nature’s wisdom is amazing
she constantly astounds…
like reminding us while on her soil
we are but shadows on the ground.