Myself And I

it follows me
around the bends
wherever I go
it has no name, yet it knows mine

as long as there is light
I am being pursued
by my darker half
it treads the same road I fell down on
but tentatively stops
one step behind

it jerks about
without the fluidity of human limbs
like a broken, demented mannequin
I am its prey

Simultaneously, I control
the strings that moves its mechanisms
we are two opposites
tied together by the need of one another.
It consumes my being when I allow it to,
but it doesn't breathe air,
like me,
nor does it shed
real tears.

abandonment is
an option
my stalker entices
I contemplate the actions
of such deed
its faceless form
smirks
stares me down
But the power I would be required to relinquish
pulls me back from the edge
where I teetered, uncertain
for two quarters of a second

so now it's just me, left alone
to envy the shadow,
after sunrise.