My Shadow
I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me
And what can be the use of him is more than I can see;
He is very, very like me from heel up to the head,
And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.
The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow-
Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;
For he sometimes shoots up taller like an India-rubber ball,
And he sometimes gets so little that there is none of him at all.
He hasn’t got a notion of how children ought to play,
And can only make a fool of me in every kind of way;
He stays so close beside me, he’s a coward you can see;
I’d think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me.
One morning very early, before the sun was up,
I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;
But my lazy little shadow, like an errant sleepy-head,
Had stayed at home behind me, and was fast asleep in bed.
~Robert Louis Stevenson~
