The Shadow People
by Josh Caraco
On the great sunny days,
the Shadow People had their ways.
They’d party in their shadow land,
to the sound of music from their shadow band.
They’d play all day next to their shadow trees,
with their shadow birds and shadow bees.
They really were the most accepting bunch,
always ready to share in a great shadow lunch.
The townspeople didn’t notice the shadows.
This is just how it usually goes.
Until there is a problem, and then, who knows?
Then one day there was a great problem indeed.
Townspeople took it to the ruler they did need.
The ruler heard the problem and got terribly mad.
So he decided to do something devilishly bad.
He called out to the town and to the town he said,
“People, your grievances will soon be dead.
The Shadow People are to blame.
With your money I can play a game.
A great game, to block out the sun,
I’ll build a contraption an’ problem is done.”
And the townspeople said,
“Yes, it must have been the shadows.
For what else could it have been,
what else, who knows?”
Now the townspeople thought the ruler better than before.
So they went to his castle, and gave money through the door.
The ruler took the money and did as he said that he should;
he built a contraption, and believe me it could,
do quite well, what he said that it would.
Next there was a great big sound.
It was the gathering of clouds from all ‘round.
These clouds covered up the entire land,
and there were no more shadows, not even a hand.
There are no more great sunny days,
the Shadow People have lost their ways.
They cannot party in their shadow land,
there is no music, for no shadow band.
They cannot play next to their shadow trees.
They cannot find their shadow birds nor shadow bees.
Now the Shadow People never go outside.
They always feel they need to hide,
in deep dark closets where nothing can be seen,
where everything is black and nothing green.
The Shadow People never do smile.
They keep themselves occupied for quite a while,
with things like moisture in the walls,
and the sounds of voices down the halls.
Now if this saddens you,
ask the wise old man who,
will tell you not to give in to fear,
for it’s now so very clear;
you must stand up to the injustices of which you hear,
and all the wrong doings that you see,
then soon all Shadow Peoples may be free.
And a young child hears this and asks of his or her mother,
or perhaps father or sister or brother,
why their problems have not gone far away,
for of course they did not vanish, like the shadows, that day.
And the mother or perhaps father or sister or brother,
says to the child like we’d hope to any other,
“I do not know, I really must say,
perhaps it was not the shadows, like the ruler told us that day.”
And the child, knowing this all along,
says, “We must do something, for this is ever so wrong!”
And because you cannot refuse a child like this talking,
many people gather, towards the great big door walking.
And the ruler is there and he hears them knocking.
Now the ruler must open the door,
and the first one to speak is a child, near the floor:
“Sir, you are quite evil,
that is why you must face this upheaval.
The shadows are not to blame.
We really don’t like your game.
Destroy your contraption and give us back our money,
and also, mean sir, we’d really like it to be sunny!”
The ruler hears this and can do nothing but run.
Right now, for him, ruling is not very fun.
Together the townspeople take back their money,
and destroy the contraption and make it all sunny.
Now the Shadow People can go outside.
They do not feel they need to hide,
in deep dark closets where nothing can be seen,
where everything is black and nothing, green.
The townspeople have learned to stop toting,
they now know the dangers of scapegoating.
Though the town’s problems have not gone away,
with the help of the shadows, they can solve them today.
They work together, instead of apart,
which makes them all feel very smart.
