THE SHADOW THAT SHAPES

By Yati Ramli

There is a shadow etched in the marrow of my bones,

not a burden, but a tattoo,

marking the unsaid,

the spaces where light once lived,

now hollow with silence.

It was not born of night,

but of days thick with unspoken grief,

when sorrow blooms without a name

and joy hides its face.

unseen, but never gone -

a constant companion in a world that forgets.

It is not the dark I fear,

but the hollow it leaves behind,

the silence carved into the soul,

the absence of song.

And yet -

in this shadow, there is beauty;

it presses close like a lover,

whispering in the stillness,

offering solace when nothing else will come.

It is the quiet understanding

that knows the depth of my silence.

I have learned to trace its edges,

to make peace with the darkness I once fled,

to find grace in moments when the light is too sharp,

too loud.

I retreat into the shadow’s hold,

where the heart can heal in the quiet,

and whispers become strength.

The darkness does not own me,

but it has shaped me -

like the earth that bends beneath the storm,

growing stronger with every blow,

finding beauty in what remains.

#darkpoetsclub