Shadow you, shadow me?

My shadow just slipped off yesterday,

It did not even ask, just ran away!

It wiggled the curtains, slammed the door,

Then wrote “I can see you...” on the floor!

It was not black anymore, you see,

Why, it looked exactly like me!

It scooped my mother’s moisturiser and applied it on my sleeping brother with glee,

Dear gods, please save me!

It tiptoed outside and ran down the lane,

I thought I was losing my very own dear brain!

Not every day does your shadow rebel,

I pinched myself hard... it hurt (oh well).

It barked at a dog, scratched a cat,

It was ruining my image of a meritocrat!

Then it found a scooter, zoomed down the street,

Nearly knocked over some dude off his feet!

It copied my voice, the loathsome clone,

And yelled, “I laugh at my own jokes when I’m alone.”

My friends laughed, though they couldn’t see,

It was that nasty shadow, not me!

It sneaked into shops, tried on some shoes,

Then threw it on my head, it still hurts, the bruise.

It stole a hat, twirled it round and round,

Till the shopkeeper yelled, “Who’s fooling around?”

By now I was chasing, half out of breath,

My shadow was now playing with death!

It juggled some knives at the circus gate,

Then bowed to the crowd like the head of state.

The guard shouted, “What nonsense is this?”

But my shadow just bowed and blew him a kiss.

It hopped onto statues, struck some poses,

Stole a bouquet and sniffed at the roses.

I begged it to stop, I begged it to stay,

But shadows, it said, must have their day!

Finally, the sun began to sink low,

Ha! The ugly hippo had nowhere to go!

Shadows can’t live without a light,

And dusk was swallowing up all in sight!

It jogged back, still jumping,

Melted right onto my skin.

But before it vanished, it winked happily,

And whispered, “You thought this was fun? Wait till tomorrow... you’ll see!”

The writer is a student of Std. VII in The Shree Ram School, Moulsari, Gurugram, Haryana. He was one of the six students selected through a nationwide competition to work alongside the Young World team for a day in curating the Children’s Day special issue of The Hindu Young World.