My shadow walks with me, when no one else will. And even if he is hidden by the darkness, I know that he is still there. He comforts me, he is my companion.
But
now the unbearable brightness of a thousand suns beats down on me, and
even my shadow flees from me. Under the glaring light all of my flaws
are laid bare, and my virtues are shown in all their flimsiness. I am
undone. One by one the people I have known throughout my life come and
bear witness against me. If it was false witness I think I could bear
it. But it is all true, every fragment of the evidence. Their statements
are factual, blunt and unemotional. The weight of it strikes me to my
knees.
And then, in my darkest, clearest, brightest hour, my shadow comes back.
He
takes the stand, and for a moment I am sure that he willing bring the
most damning evidence of all. But he does not. He states the facts, he
goes over the territory again. But from my perspective, from my
position. He shows my weakness, yes, but he also explains how I
struggled against it, and was just not strong enough. He displays my
cowardice, but the courage that led me into the situation that I most
feared. He walks through my life, with me at every step.
But
the raw fact of my weakness remains, and in this I am surely doomed.
Until my shadow goes back, way back, to the beginning. And here he shows
how strong I once was, and the plague that sapped and undermined me. It
was not my fault that I caught the plague, no, I was born with it. He
spoke of my faith, my faith in my family, my talents, and my shadow.
And
only then do the lights cease to pierce me, and my shadow returns to my
side. it is a new world, a new chance. And my shadow is with me.
