This thing of darkness I acknowledge mine

The sun came out. Just for a second. It burned its way through the heavy clouds pregnant with rain, momentarily blinding me with the sheer radiance of its light. I dipped my face away to the side and caught something in my peripheral vision that gave me a start.

A figure walking a few paces behind me, but way down at the water’s edge. The place where no-one walks for fear of the treacherous green algae that covers the rocks, the slimy surface refreshed with every wave’s kiss.

My pulse had not even settled when I recognised who it was, and I laughed silently.

It was me. My shadow. My ever-present yet not always visible companion who orientates herself around my body. Intangible, a kind of absent presence that hovers between me and the light, my shadow remains always an extension of myself. Reassurance that I exist. That I am here. That I matter.

The sunlight ceased, filtered once again behind layers of silver, dove, charcoal, lead. And with the sun’s disappearance, my shadow disappeared too. The waves dispersing the clean-edged form, the air reclaiming the space, readjusting the contrast.

I continue walking along the breakwater, my shadow no longer visible. Yet I know it’s still there. Just waiting for the next sunbeam.