The Man Who Lost His Shadow by Royal Rhodes

He noticed, not knowing
the day or the exact hour,
when his shadow vanished,
as if the sun stood still
directly over his head.
Did a shadow thief
slice it away from his limbs
and hide it in a locked drawer,
rolled up like fine netting?
Or did he pour it inside
his own mouth, like a Negroni,
a drink he swallowed like black silk
to forget all the impressions he made?
Had it spooked him at night,
suddenly elongated by gaseous
jets from the antique lamp-posts,
a blackwing cast over earthlight?
Or did he come to regard it
like a book jacket blurb,
of "untold secrets...unspeakable sins,"
that stalked even the slightest move?
A thousand kisses deep,
it witnessed him outside himself,
more than he could predictably know.
His body, its perfect form,
was like a pocket, cut exactly,
to hold this two-dimensional twin,
wrapping itself like an interior shroud
and claiming the one heart they shared.
And then other shadows began disappearing.