Shadow

Respected Shadow,
I write to you as evidence of my existence
an outline of myself in light.

I love you in the mornings,
when you stretch faithfully at my side.
I question you in the afternoons,
when you lengthen like doubts across the ground.
I fear you in the night,
when you swallow me and vanish.

Are you my companion or my confession?
Do you follow because I move,
or do I move because you follow?

When I stumble, you stumble
but never fall.
No bruised knees or broken hearts.
When I run, you stretch
and I can't catch up.

Are you the mercy of my movements,
or the mockery of my limits?
Do you remind me I am fragile,
or prove I am never alone?

Yours truly,
the breath you cannot escape.