moon shadow

moon shadow

dearest moon -

you are always full

in spite of your lunar rhythm

but I only periodically

see your entirety

your hidden face—always there—

turning in the dark so quietly

so too within my soul

there is a fullness I do not show

a presence I do not know

a light waiting patiently

within me — to glow

you live in your shadow too

but dimness is not a flaw —

but a facet to behold

Jung called it the Shadow

not because it should be feared

but because it is unseen

unclaimed

unloved

but never so unreal

I cast light on fragments of myself

the way the sun illuminates you —

selectively

circumstantially

based on time phase place

yet what if the parts I hide—

my anger

my longing

my fears

my desires

are not my ruin

but my root?

what if the fullness of being

requires me to turn

to rotate

to evolve

to allow the darkened edge

of who I am to be witnessed and welcomed

in due time — in my own rhythm?

just as you are always complete —

so am I

even when my light doesn’t show it

especially then

I don’t need to shine to be whole

you are always full—

even when slivered to the eye

even when waning

hiding

veiled by phase or cloud or time or tide

you never cease being whole

you never ask for my attention

to remain complete

but see —

I measure you by what I see

by the light you catch

the gleam you lend to my nights

as though your worth waxes

and wanes with visibility

how often I do the same—

with myself

with others

with love

judging a wholeness

by reflection

by what’s offered

to the watching world

this world —

too overly expectant

but our unseen side

is just as sacred

the part in shadow

still belongs

still breathing

still turns with the same rhythm

of the cosmos

so let this be a truth

I carry in the quiet:

I am always full

even in the dark

especially in the dark

and when I feel

I am not enough —

you insinuate

you remind

you insist

that being seen

is not entirely up to us…