Keeping company with shade.

With­out eyes to strain, or a heart to break,

we grow lazy in our cells.

We bur­row –

becom­ing ever more root­ed in the dark.

With no breath in sight,

we for­get that once we took air in rough gasps.

Once.

Before we gave that up;

choos­ing rather to trade secrets with the moist earth.

Dim­ly we recall that some­where above us the strug­gle con­tin­ues.

Air is won and lost every day.

In the end, though, we for­get.

All is well so long as we remain in slum­ber.

Sleep­ing in secret. Keep­ing com­pa­ny with shade.