Within the pit of every shadow Lies the shame of every man. The one same spot multiplied a billion times, Each thinking as though he alone holds the dark within himself.
Wounded, I stalk the planetary globe Seeking a shadow to hide within. To shun the sun The starry antidote to the cherished pain of one alone, The very stuff that gives a sense of self, a separatness and bittered betterness -- The very converse of That which is complete.
The deep hidden secret within that makes me me, Different and separate from another; Yet the same as every other's pain, For the color of darkness is always the same, One manifestation of infinite effect.
Run from it and like the shadow it is, It dogs me at my heels, Never leaving. It is only within the shade of a levered rock Do I escape the black reflection of what I think I am.
I touch the shame and find its pain, Its hurt, its humiliation; The punishment just for being; But in knowing that dark spot that dwells within, What I have come to call what is me, I know the shame that dwells within each that I have called another, such as thee. And now I know you as intimately and I know me.
You have a shame, you have a hurt, A hidden secret that I know as well as you. You hide and run, But it is there. I only make believe I do not see, So that you will join in make believe And not look inside to see what makes me me.
In that knowing of what is shame, a tender rapture, For what is separate is now gone. You are my brother, You are my sister, For in touching together our most earthly sore I find in Thou That which is Divine, The God beyond all thoughts Of what I thought was something that wasn't me.
