Shadow's Free

by Dewayne Allday 

12 November 2022

A dule of spying dove,

hovered out of reach, 

above, else they be eaten,

by the Shadow.

They had watched a friend

get swallowed up as

Shadow's nose, mouth, 

and friend pointed up,

dropped into Shadow's belly

in one triumphant gulp.

Excitement, freedom,

no more fences.

Admiration for wildness,

nature in uncompromised form,

perplexing perceived flaws,

all of which, cut into stone by

by natural dog bona fide laws;

unregulated, untamed,

and equally unapologetic

and forgotten by domestication.

Survival was a pack

that he had lost.

The dove hoped for kindness,

in their own way,

but kindness Shadow knew not.

His blood controlled him,

his nature remained with him,

so, he was dark, elusive, 

untamable, and hence 

even Peter Pan tossed him away.

Shadow never boasted;

wildness his only desire,

to eat, sleep, procreate

was to be free;

the only thing he knew

or would ever know. 

Bonds with humans or

any human association

against his nature.

He simply is and 

there was nothing else.

Wendy Darling was

no darling in his eyes.

Not in his blood was love,

but untamed wildness was.

Bad blood untamable, yet

that blood was his alone,

at no fault of him.

Blameless in his ferociousness,

he understood nature

when no one else did.

Only once he wagged his tail

upon crossing that

 narrow bridge to hell.

At the crossroads was a sign

that pointed nowhere,

confusing all.

It simply said, 

"Shadow Left,"

and below that, 

"Hell to him was heaven."