Poem of the Day: A Shadow of Myself

With Curated Photography and Bonus Song of the Day

The shadow self is often looked at as a darker part of ourselves, but what if we looked at it differently. What if we look at our shadow self as aspects of who we used to be. As we go through various changes and stages of our lives we become different and we leave behind parts of ourselves — the person we used to be.

As a photographer I am occasionally inspired to take a shadow selfie with my camera.

The poem below is from my poetry journals…

A Shadow of Myself

Here I stand, 
a shadow of myself,
looking for a familiar posture.

A shadow of myself 
peers through the lens 
of my camera

Looking for 
the woman
I used to be.

I, the me’s
I used to be,
strong and tenacious. 

Now I stand shakily 
on solid ground.
A shadow of myself. 

Strength replaced
by pain and worry.
I am but a shadow of myself. 

In my mind
my thoughts drift back
to the me’s I used to be.

Now I see shadows
where I was once
strong. 

Now I see shadows,
my tenacity
is gone. 

Here I stand, 
a shadow of myself,
looking for a familiar connection.

I love this quote from Emerson, it lends itself to the theme of my poem above and the photos…

"Most of the shadows of this life are caused by our standing in our own sunshine." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Maybe we all are simply pieces of driftwood on the beach, with every storm we become more weathered and worn…

Sometimes we leave our shadows in magical places as if to say, “I was here. I stood in this place.” — MT Etna, Sicily, September 2019.

Stay tuned for new posts… I hope you might share this Poem of the Day on Notes and your Socials, and perhaps you will refer a friend.

The comments are open as always. Leave a comment, strike up a discussion, talk among yourselves, be part of this community.

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This community is everything to me, I appreciate you all so much — my readers and my Substack friends! 💚

I’m wishing you all a blessed and beautiful day today. 💚

Remember to breathe when things get stressful and as always, be kind to one another. Kindness is everything. 💚

And remember, as I always say, “Be in the moment and go with the flow.” 💚

Bonus Song of the Day:

Ruby Amanfu - Shadow On The Wall… Enjoy!

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