Hello there
dear Shadow
I come in piece
to sit with you
and talk
in silence.

No words can tell
how I have missed your power
while you kept fighting
all my fights
alone.

I come in pieces
dark and colourful
small and tall
to fill a hole
right there
in my heart.

So will you join me now,
dear Shadow?
Let's walk in peace.
As one.

Words are like blades
innocent for themselves
it's but the intention they're used with
that convey them their shades

And if I walk away and say goodbye
It’s not for lack of love
But ‘cause the image caught into your eye
Staring at me from above
Just doesn’t speak of me
and who I really am

I stood my ground
facing inferno
anchored inside of you, profound
like an almighty foe

And carrying my soul, my heart, my dreams,
I covered all in patient waiting
for all we shared, to me it seems,
meant far more than all you keep saying

How deeply sad this ending
that I wilfully choose
that leaves me with the task of mending
the love I thought I could not loose

Yet I am grateful that we met again
that we did write these final lines
and I sincerely hope your pain
brings you, somehow, a sun that shines

Or should I say: an Ode to You?
Does it make any difference? Really?
Let’s start again, let’s start by saying
In’Lak’ech Ala K’in
You are another Me. I am another You.
For that’s what’s so unique
about being Human.
We are the Same.
BECAUSE we are not.
We were created equal
BECAUSE we were all created different
with this raging desire inside
of being who we are
who we truly are
each one of us
billions and billions of versions
of creatures who can say I am
who want to know who I am
who want to define it
be being just like X
and by being dislike Y

Unlike the flower, the tree, the fish,
the animals, the mountains, the oceans
that are what they are,
we reflect.
We reflect about who we are,
We reflect about our world.
I reflect about who you are,
and I reflect who you are.
You reflect who I am.
BECAUSE on this or that, we are the same,
look the same, feel the same, believe the same.
BECAUSE in this or that we are different,
look different, feel different, believe different.
Billions and billions of reflections
billions and billions of versions
of being Human.

This comes with great responsibility.
For we need one thing
to bring this raging desire to reality:
we need to honour our differences,
we need to respect them.
From two perspectives, in fact:
from the selfish perspective
for if I want to truly be me
I need the freedom to fully express
who I really am
so I cannot allow you or another version of the human being
to shrink my universe of possibilities.
From the altruistic perspective, too.
For to define who I am
I need you, every single version of you,
to fully express who you are
in order to reflect in all it’s glory
who I am.

The more I love who you are
the more I love your differences
the more I honour you as not me
the more I can become who I am
the more I can see who I am
because you reflect it so well
just the way you are.
Billions of you.

Hence any man, woman or child
who endangers the difference
of another man, woman or child
is in fact destroying a reflection of his or her own uniqueness.
Belittle the options you allow another human being,
and you belittle your own self and your own glance.

That is how we are all connected.
Through the most fundamental right of being different.
That is how we are all equal.

BECAUSE I am not you and you are not me,
we are the same.

In La’kech Ala K’in
An Ode to You.

Or should I say:
an Ode to Me.


Marie-Hélène de Cannière, © 2016