To the Shadows, Stranger and Friend

Do I dare take myself into my own shadows?

It won’t be a walk on the brightside

Far from the lights

into the wild spaces

The lost areas

Do I Dare?

What am I afraid of?

What might find me there?

What might be lurking in the midst of me?

Fearing the fears themselves

Who is leading me there

Who is taking me

Who is holding my hand

When I walk, what will I find?

And what happen when I face the strange encounter?

Of what’s hidden deep within

That moment

Approaching the dark veiled mystery

That pain that holds power

The dark, the hidden

Do I dare go there?

In the maze of labyrinthine mystery

Do I dare be led by the stranger?

To the darkness held within

Swamps of voices, Caves of emptiness

Failings and shame making themselves known

But what happens then, when the stranger leads me

To that depth within

Who is stranger leading, if not me, and my friend too

So, that darkness is less the enemy

When approached by stranger and friend

Stranger unafraid to go there

And friend there, as love, deep inside

Stranger leading, friend following

And gentle the process of walking

In the shadows, stranger and friend

to myself

and what’s to be loved inside.

(James Ballantyne, 2024)