The Shadow

It's great to see that all of my fellow contributors have posted their first blogs with a brain full of ideas.
My brain is more or less empty...but here it is.

From the dawn of birth, by the hand of death;

The shroud that clings to my being,

Never leave me be still.

From the first step in the sunshine,

To pale corpse under frozen light,

Will it follow me to my last breath;

Shifting colours grey-brown,

Blurred bright around the edge,

But yet with a heart so black.

It observes without emotion,

As I walk the world of colour,

With a laugh, a frown,

A thought, a song,

A dream, a life;

Then what have I to fear,

The dark veil upon my visage,

Sewed strong into my skin,

That hides a heart so black?

With every twitch of hand,

The shroud repeats with deeper motive;

As the eye darts in fevered glance,

It casts its being in hollow waves,

To hide, to blind, to end all peace,

Of mind and soul to its deepest depths.

And yet the lips purse, the eyes close,

The soul walks with doom in its trail,

Cast by a heart so black.

And so, with every step I take,

The shadow creeps across my face,

And hides behind my clear eyes,

Clouding them in hope and fear;

A hope that I could hold it back,

In fear that the world could see it there,

Ripping to shreds the image I formed,

Unclothing the truth that I couldn’t belong,

With a heart, my heart, so black.