**I and my shadow**

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I and My Shadow

— Manoj Mehta

I and my shadow often talk to each other,
Two sides of one soul born from one another.
I move with questions, it walks with doubt,
Together we search what life’s about.

In darkness my shadow seems to be lost,
But in candlelight looks like a giant ghost.
When light is absent, forms decay,
Yet a fragile flame makes fears display.

I ask of the light, why it must reveal,
It asks of the dark what it tries to conceal.
I look for answers steady and clear,
It listens to truths I refuse to hear.

In total night I vanish from sight,
No shape, no measure of wrong or right.
But give me a spark, humble and small,
My hidden doubts rise vast and tall.

Sometimes it catches even my attraction,
When I see in mirror it as reflection.
I pause and wonder which face is mine,
The lived-in self or the outlined sign.

Is self the image the glass displays,
Or the silent watcher behind the gaze?
If I admire what looks me through,
Am I the shadow—or is it me too?

I claim I am free, guided by choice,
It speaks of fate in a quieter voice.
I trust my logic, sharp and bright,
It trusts the pull beyond my sight.

The brighter the flame, the longer the shade,
The deeper the fears my mind has made.
What rests in dark, untested, deep,
Wakes when awareness breaks its sleep.

When crowds applaud and call me strong,
It walks beside me, silent, long.
When courage bends and faith feels thin,
It knows where every fall begins.

At dusk we meet on equal ground,
No height, no depth, no self is crowned.
The sun retreats, the questions stay,
Neither of us turns away.

At last I learn through shadowed sight,
It is not my enemy nor my fight.
I am the seeker shaped by light,
My shadow—the truth revealed at night.