Sonnet III: Shadow

So, I wrote another sonnet. I hope these aren’t cluttering the board ^_^. This one’s a little different from the other two:

Shadow
Shadow of red? Stay away from me! Please!
How do you find me when I hide from you?
When I am lost, and unsure what to do,
You speak sweet nonsense in my ear. You tease. . .
Heaven, what am I saying to you? “Tease”?
I won’t have your trail behind me! You woo
A mind that wants nothing to do with you.
I must move on past you, now. I must - no!
My little shadow - won’t you follow me?
Wouldn’t you like to be red, like me? Yes?
Poor shadow. You’ve been lost for so long. See,
Now, what I’ve been promising you: no less
Than all this! Is this sweet nonsense? Maybe. . .
And yet, you were afraid of it? Madness.

Xwing1056

Very dark! The change of perspective at the volta is kinda creepy too, switching from the person to the shadow. I found it neat how the shadow seems to refer to the person as their own shadow, as well.

It’s hard to tell exactly what the shadow is supposed to be. I’d venture a guess that the person is depressed, and the shadow is thoughts of suicide or something similar. Or it could be exactly what the last word in the poem implies: madness, insanity. Or something completely different that I’ve missed.:slight_smile:

Great work!

Thanks :slight_smile: - I was hoping the change of perspective would be startling. I’m a little disappointed about how part of the poem turned out: neither of the two speakers comes across in the way I meant him too. But I do like the form, and how it’s written.

You have the right idea about what the shadow of red is. It is a form of madness; it’s a madness that consists of pure, uncontrolled emotion; “sweet nonsense”. I meant for it to be chaotic and emotional, and maybe a little scary, but now it’s just freaky. Oh well, being freaky is fine. I’ll just have to try the other thing again sometime.

Xwing1056