Poem of the Day - Part 47

 Groundhog Day

On Groundhog Day, supposedly if the groundhog sees his shadow then there will be six more weeks of winter, but if he doesn't then spring will arrive early.

We honor this tradition with a post today about shadows.  Big Dude, this post is for you.

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First is our poem of the day: the first two verses of My Shadow by Robert Louis Stevenson.  It was written as a children's poem, but needless to day, the photos that accompany my version are not for children.

                                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.

(Note: this shadow is certainly going in and out.)

                                He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head; 

(Note: a photo of Andrew Kozak that I got from Vintage Muscle Men.  Thanks, Jerry!)

                                And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.

(Note: Dryden Mitchell of the band Alien Ant Farm.)

                                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's none of him at all.

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That's it for the poem, but here are some more shadow pictures that you might like:

Above, Beautiful Spectre by photographer Giovanni Dall'Orto, 2017.

What's called a Folsom handshake, only this one is somewhere out in the countryside.

This one is called Playing With My Shadow.

Pleasant Shadow by Giovanni Dall'Orto, 2017.  I previously published a black-and-white version of this photo.

Shadowy Doorway by Thomas Brown from the Teti Library, New Hampshire Institute of Art.

And a final not-for-children shadow.