Depression Dawns Again

by Brett J Cole

I often feel I was born with a shadow,
one that already found its way to me,
long before the light hit my skin,
or the air first found my lungs.

A shadow that is as much of me
as I am something of it,
beginning as I may end,
but not ending the beginnings I have.
Not yet.

Because we did begin,
and we do begin,
and we will begin,
each day that we're here.
Together.

I can't even call it a bad thing,
we're too familiar with one another.
It just... is.
As ever present as I am
as we dance through our days,
stepping on each other's toes.

Without it, I am not me.
Without me, it is not.
We're both simply here...
Together.

Sometimes in silence.
Sometimes in words.
Sometimes in weary rage.
Sometimes in weary acceptance.

But we are here.
Together.
Even when light hits my skin,
and a grateful sigh finds my lungs.

A sundial ever in darkness,
trying to cast my own light,
despite the shadow I carry.