What did you find in the shadow-lands?

On By Alexis RoseIn Blog, poetry

What did you find in your shadow-lands?
Did you find comfort from your pain and suffering?
Did you feel guilty as you slowly destroyed
the foundation of your life?
Or do the shadow-lands protect you like an armadillos armor
luring you into thinking that you could lumber unscathed
navigating both your inner and outer landscapes?

What happens now that the veil of deceit has been torn away?
Do you come out of the shadow-lands into the sunlight?
Or do you emerge long enough to appear repentant and ready to change
but then slip back into the arms of a chemical romance?

I have never been to the shadow-lands.
I can’t relate to the tangled web of addiction.
I can try to understand, to learn the nuances of a slip and fall.
I can set boundaries, feel the pain, hurt, and betrayal.
I can forgive!

But I don’t think I’ll ever understand why you found
it was worth risking everything you hold sacred
to live in the cold, damp, spider infested shadow-lands.

What exactly did you find?

Photo by Elijah Hail on Unsplash

Thank you for reading my new book, If I Could Tell You How It Feels, available in both ebook and paperback from Amazon.

15 thoughts on “What did you find in the shadow-lands?”

  5. As the adult child of an alcoholic this stirs up a fist full of emotions in me and I would like to ask the same question. I suspect I wouldn’t like the answer, and if I did hear it I would be saying ‘there but for the grace of God go I’ Abuse perpetuated through the generations. I’m grateful the veil of secrecy has been lifted enough to bring changes and our kids have not been subjected to the abuse we were.

    Liked by 1 person

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