The Complicated Shadows

It is not what you see.

What you see,
even when dangerous
and fills you with fright,

has a certain safety to it,
the lover or enemy you know,
an honest vision

of what is, of what has to
be faced, what can be
honestly and completely embraced.

No,

It is the complicated shadows,
the secrets held back, be they
secrets of pain or adoration, those

dark places, hidden from the light
so effectively that it is as if they
do not exist.

But they do, and they wait
to ambush you in a flurry of
unexpected anguish or anger,

or perhaps, amazing passion,
all hidden, frightening because we all know
the thing we fear the most

is the unknown.

About this Poem

We’ve all had it happen – that “out of the blue” announcement that blindsided us, for good or for bad; that thing that makes us realize how much was kept hidden and where the real truths are, or worse, what was not kept hidden, and that we missed, our eyes wide open, but blind.

The picture was taken in my daughter’s former dorm at college a couple of years ago. It’s a very innocent place, really. But I liked the shadows.

Tom