In the Spectator Shadow
This poem is a very personal journey from the 'Spectator Shadow,' a place where I once watched and nurtured others’ talents while secretly waiting to be chosen and seen. But it's also a reminder that the greatest treasures we hold are our divine right. This is a poem for anyone who has ever felt unseen—a story about turning inward to find the stage that is already yours and finally giving yourself permission to dance in your own light.
In the Spectator Shadow, I dance.
Unseen, with total abandon, in a trance.
Watching the performer’s spotlight,
Actors, singers, and dancers in operettas all shine bright.
In my mind’s eye, a scene on which I set my sight,
A quiet yearn for the stage to be my birthright.
In the Spectator Shadow, I nurture,
Others’ voices, talents, creations, with fervour.
Silently admiring the intense passions,
The sense of ownership, in true fashion.
The same gifts I hold within
Yet lack the faith to let them rise in.
In the Spectator Shadow, I wait,
In the pulsing arteries of the theatre hallways
Longing to be seen, to be heard, to be chosen
For those words to be outwardly spoken
And my soul to unleash with joy.
But my voice, my expression, I leave to self-destroy
As MY WILL... MY CHOICE silently corrodes.
In the Spectator Shadow, I reside,
In the comfortable darkness it provides
A state that interweaves into my being
Becoming my energetic ceiling
Here in the sanctuary-darkness
of the spectator shadow, I shift
my ‘seeing eye’ from the spotlight of the outer stage.
With the eye of my heart, I slowly drift
To the waiting inner stage of my soul.
This inner stage is mine,
My soul, the actor I choose to cherish.
To be visible, to create, to flourish,
Those treasures are my divine right.
The spotlight I'd yearned for is now my own,
The inner stage on which my spirit has grown,
Under this beautiful, divine light… I shine……I sing...I dance!!