I walk out of my abode

And into a blinding sun.

I'm not even awake,

But I go through the motions.

I've done this for years,

My sheer will 

Picking up my 117 pounds of flesh and bone.

I sling it across my heart like armor.

And go out to strive all day against

What seems to be a ten ton unknown.

But I see today it hasn't got me anything,

But stringier hair and muscles,

A shadow across my chin,

Chagrin.

And yet, the shadow quickens me!

It's him!

It's the shadow I've been wanting

To contend with all these days,

And secretly I have!

I see it from the marks I bare.

All those days I fought and sought a home,

And felt orphan, never finding one!

And all the while I belonged

To the shadow!

So will I now awake

After all these years

And fear the shadow?

Go about my life at night

Where there is no light to cast him

Bright and and clear,

But only shallow memories of him

That flit upon my wall?

Or will I now bare these bruises

Proudly so, marked by him?

For I am his,

And he is mine,

The shadow.

Should I find my true weight class,

My true fight and win,

I'll claim my prizes here, where I fit in,

In the Shadowlands

With my lovely shadow!

-jenn