I drag it behind me in hushed silence,
The shadow they insisted was mine,
And threaded jaggedly into my tender heel.

I have learned to fly,
And leave the shadowed ground.
And laid my hearth at Neverland,
where shadows cannot reach.

Yet here I return still to visit Darling,
Back on solid ground, I steal glanced downward—
There it is, leaping, reaching,
Threatening to wear my face,
And bare my callous cuspids.
I let it rise up when I stand for another,
A twisted guardian, stretching behind me.

Otherwise, I do not speak to shadows,
Especially ones that flay.
I lift my feet a little higher,
Walk a little faster, dragging my shadow along.

For shadowless, I fear, I cannot
Take flight to Neverland ever again.