Shadow Work

“How can I be substantial 

if I do not cast a shadow?”

Carl Jung 

Shadow Work

I have carried a light

too carefully 

as if brightness alone

could prove I was whole 

But every man

who stands in the sun

casts a shape behind him—

a dark echo 

a second truth 

My shadow keeps

what I tried to forget:

the anger I softened

into silence 

the fear I dressed

as competence 

the desire I buried

under duty 

It holds the versions of me

I never let breathe 

the instincts I hid —

a self-imposed silence 

born of the lie 

of being unbecoming 

To deny them 

is to fracture myself 

to live as a polished half 

instead of a full 

complicated body 

So I turn toward the dim places

and let them speak 

They do not threaten me 

They complete me 

I gather the bright moments

and the difficult ones 

the wounds and the wisdom 

the tenderness and the teeth—

and I let them stand together

in the same light 

Only then

do I become substantial 

Only then

do I cast a true shadow 

Only then 

© Ron Simpson Jr. 

August 17, 2026