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)
James Ballantyne 