In What the Shadows Say, a poem about self-reflection and healing, the shadows of our past speak to us, demanding we remember what we’ve buried. Through the echoes of forgotten moments and unresolved memories, the poem explores how we confront our inner darkness and find paths toward growth and healing.

What the Shadows Say.

a.v.j.

In the hours before dawn, they arrive—
stretching long and thin,
folding themselves into corners I dare not reach.
They gather in silence,
yet their presence hums,
threaded with the weight of things I’ve buried.

The shadows speak, but not in words.
They press against my chest,
  their touch cold as dusk,
Their whispers seep into the hollow spaces,
filling the void where my voice used to be.

“Do you remember?”
They do not ask; they demand.
They sift through the dust of my days,
pieces I’ve tried to forget:
the echo of a goodbye never spoken,
a promise unraveled by time,
the brief warmth of a hand I didn’t hold long enough.

I want to tell them to leave,
but their edges blur into mine—
they are not visitors,
but pieces of myself
left behind in moments I refused to live.

“Do you remember?”
And I do.
I remember the weight of staying still
when I longed to run.
I remember the quiet ache of what was almost mine,
and the louder ache of what was never meant to be.

The shadows stretch thin against the walls,
but I see them now for what they are:
not ghosts, but guides,
not burdens, but bridges.

“Do you remember?”
And I do.