The Shadow on the House by Kimberly Coverly

The Shadow on the House by Kimberly Coverly

I went by the somber house,

Splayed grey and lacking a spouse,

And I stopped to look at the sun-lit side,

Of a house with no shadows to come and collide.

But then out of nowhere he seemed to appear,

His wide brimmed hat was so clear.

I saw his scooter whizzing around,

A child perched as to not fall on the ground.

They laughed and played til the sun did fade,

And she was confident he would always stay.

Just then the light got shy and hid,

And I wanted to look back and find his lid.

But I knew he was gone and would never be found,

So she decided to wander without turning around.

He would forever be left in that happy place,

Where shadows kept his smiling face.

_________________________________________________________________________________

The Shadow on the Stone by Thomas Hardy

I went by the Druid stone

   That broods in the garden white and lone,   

And I stopped and looked at the shifting shadows   

   That at some moments fall thereon

   From the tree hard by with a rhythmic swing,   

   And they shaped in my imagining

To the shade that a well-known head and shoulders   

   Threw there when she was gardening.

      I thought her behind my back,

   Yea, her I long had learned to lack,

And I said: 'I am sure you are standing behind me,   

   Though how do you get into this old track?'   

   And there was no sound but the fall of a leaf   

   As a sad response; and to keep down grief

I would not turn my head to discover

   That there was nothing in my belief.

      Yet I wanted to look and see

   That nobody stood at the back of me;

But I thought once more: 'Nay, I'll not unvision   

   A shape which, somehow, there may be.'   

   So I went on softly from the glade,

   And left her behind me throwing her shade,   

As she were indeed an apparition—

   My head unturned lest my dream should fade.