Shadows of Another Life

A Poem

Photo by okeykat on Unsplash

the days are filled with noise,
the click-clack clatter of commotion,
but you try not to fret too much
as you almost drown in daily tasks

get it together, get it together —
what a refrain to live by!
you chide yourself again and again
as if you could do so much more

the nights by contrast are silent —
shallow sifts into stasis song —
but how can they be so empty
when you’re still running to keep up?

only when you trace the ceiling
in another sleepless night in bed
do you imagine the shadows
shifting into something more

you think of Peter Pan,
that boy who lost his shadow,
until the moment Wendy sewed it on
so it would never flee too far again

if you could live another life —
oh, oh, what would you do?
if you could walk in another’s shoes —
oh, oh, what could you do?