Saturday 7 January 2023

On Ghosts, Shadows, and Changing Tack.

I’m being haunted at the moment by the Lady B’s shadow. It happens occasionally.

For a long time a few years ago I was being haunted by the ghost of Emily Brontë, and I’ve discovered something interesting: ghosts are more substantial than shadows. Well they would be, wouldn’t they? Emily’s corporeal form is dead and gone, whereas the Lady B’s is alive and merely distant. That’s why ghosts can talk to you silently, whereas shadows can’t (although shadows can be remarkably persistent and even debilitating.)

I haven’t seen the Lady B’s corporeal form for more than two years. It must have been during the warmer months because she was wearing shorts, and I imagine she’s probably changed a lot because becoming a different person has a habit of doing that. It’s even possible that I wouldn’t recognise her now. I recognise her shadow though. That never changes.

Maybe you think I’m talking nonsense, and maybe I am. And maybe it’s about time I did because it makes a refreshing change from bad dreams in the night.

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