We all have shadows,
how easily, daily,
we forget,
ego mostly to protect
increasing the brightness,
blinding with discordance
who you are and who I am,
sharing the same thread.

The dark is not blocked light,
shadows are not turned-backs,
but the yin and yang of life
natural inside, what we all have.

Let us all embrace
the shades,
open ourselves
to being stitched
into the quilt
of human race,

each of our picture shapes
turning to color
and telling our stories
so we may wrap ourselves
in a shared comfort.

Poem and images ©LauraDenise