The Shadows Dance

There lives a darkness deep within,

A shadow cast by light's harsh gleam—

It whispers truths I fear to hear,

Shows me the person I could be.

Some days I wage a holy war

Against these murky depths of self,

I brandish virtues like bright swords

And chase the darkness from its shelf.

But in the quiet hours of night

When all my defenses fall away,

I find myself in strange embrace

With all the parts I pushed away.

The darkness holds my buried rage,

My jealousy, my bitter grief—

But also holds my wildest dreams,

My passion, and my raw belief.

To fight it is to fight myself,

To deny the soil where flowers grow.

To embrace it whole might drown my light

In undertows I do not know.

So here I dance this ancient dance

Between acceptance and control,

Learning darkness is not evil—

Just another face of soul.

Perhaps the truest wisdom lies

Not in conquest or surrender,

But in the graceful recognition

That shadows make the light more tender.

For I am both the blazing sun

And the eclipse that dims its fire—

Complete only in the tension

Between what is and what I aspire