Shadow

Running past my own shadow, on the ground, there!

See it fail and fall behind, so slow, so unsure

There's an empty dream lurking down that alley

Waiting to jump me and drag me into its false neon flash

Now my own shadow staggers and reels, jumping about

Never with me, always threatening me with its dark nothingness

Blotting out the light and withering small flowers

That feel

Its icy to touch

Running to the window, the sky's gone red

The walls speed past and kick gravel in my face

Light switches lean out and scream abuse as they flash by

Everything speeds up

A chair screams by

Blasting death into small clumps of grass

Large empty rooms fill with mountains

Ceilings change moods

Windows look round and I look like nothing at all

See my shadow now, prising itself away from my body

Struggling for its own state of mind

Striking out against the wind, running further, faster

Pausing briefly, waving goodbye

October 1988