Shadow Walker



I start with fire to burn the paper that holds the words he said
The fire, it touches me like ice, and the paper, watch out! the paper shreds
Whispers, he, the Shadow Walker, I'm sorry, indeed, that I left
But the tide is out and the cycle repeats and he leaves her with the fire again

I start with ice, to sooth the burn, my wounds cry out a hiss
It snakes around me, pain, it festers, and bleeds out through my wrists
Grabs, he, the shadow Walker, my arm, his eyes, they cry with regret
But the tide is in and the cycle repeats and he leaves her with the ice again

I start with knives, to cut a cloth and white becomes a red
I pull it open, the cabinet, with bottles lining the shelf
Shakes me, hard, the shadow walker, when he finds me on the doorstep
But the tide is gone, the cycle shall end, and the shadow walker won't leave again

About this poem

A poem set during the Second World War. It's a story about a husband and wife, written from the perspective of the girl who refers to her husband as the 'Shadow Walker'. Just as shadows abandon one at night, her husband has to enlist in the war and she feels alone and abandoned with no family and no friends to fall back on at the darkest times of her life. Slowly, the young wife succumbs to the darkness and depression residing inside her mind, and uses different methods of hurting herself in the hope her husband will stay will her, instead of going back. In the end driven mad by the loneliness, in a bid to end the cycle of her husband leaving her time and time again, she takes some pills from her cabinet the day her husband is due to return for a break and dies in his arms. 

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Written on November 08, 2021

Submitted by beel.11191 on November 08, 2022

Modified on March 05, 2023

54 sec read
1

Quick analysis:

Scheme AXXB XXXB AXXB
Characters 849
Words 179
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4

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    "Shadow Walker" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/146032/shadow-walker>.

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