Reprieve Reclaimed: Shadow Work Poem & Analysis

 The mind: the most dangerous prison

Image: Created by Marilyn Glover with Canva Design

Welcome to the deep dive into the most recent poem from my Substack podcast, focused on my 15-poem chapbook, Shadow's Reprieve. My verses are inspired by Carl Jung's depth psychology and dive into the core archetypes: Persona, Shadow & Self. Every Wednesday morning, I provide the audio for free to listen to on Substack, and here on my blog, I explore the meaning behind the lyrics.

This week's poem wraps up part 2, the shadow-focused section of my book, and was inspired by personal moments of "mental imprisonment."

Reprieve Reclaimed

Punished to pardoned,
Internal call
Dialing back
Projections—
For self-protection
Yet,
Infection lingers
Not enough fingers
To count
My woes
Add in the toes
Still not enough; it's tough
I grasp these bars
Still in a cell
Absolved of nothing
Feels like hell.

People, associated and strangers
Suppressed attributes
Projected
Denial festered equals dangers
I testify; might I atone
A pause, a pardon
Doesn't mean done

Light to dark; dark to light
Imprisoned
From a perspective
Opposing reflective
Hidden, disowned, repression
A mighty push down
Hand's suppression
Entangled emotions
All that I hid away
No embracing compassion
Without shadow play

Distorted, downplayed, degradation
A silhouette's sidebar, self-conversation
Enlightened, no
Might I fix
Edit my human stance
Mind and its tricks

Truth be told: self—I've deceived
Put myself in jail
Thrown away the key

Reprieve, a pardon; I've had many
Temporary relief
Truthfully, there isn't any

Cycles, circles, swing back around
Insights skimmed
Not really found
Reclaimed reprieve is only a delay
Might shadow and me
Get on someday

At a glance, Reprieve Reclaimed might seem like a typical internal back and forth, a conflict between a perceived "punishment" and the highly sought "pardoning." Deeper in the lyrics, the "reprieve," the temporary relief, becomes recognized as a cycle that keeps circling back into one's life.

A prison here is the self-made lock-up of one's mind.

Something troubling, something quite painful, sits here encaged by overbearing thoughts. The prison sentence idles between banned and barred and a reprieve.

It's during this metaphorical "staycation" the mind lets up a bit, finds a momentary uptick in spirit and outlook, and considers positive alternatives to the otherwise heavy-hearted concepts.

But the staycation ends. The relief period stops, as all reprieves do.

Thoughts swing back to the caged mindset, and once again, the prison sentence continues.

Grasping the "bars" feels like holding on for dear life, but the enclosure isn't of the real world—it's self-made, self-imposed, self-inflicted.

A mash-up of emotions lingers. Surface-level suggestions allude to much more profound things, but this entails digging into the deeper aspects of oneself; it's unsettling, challenging, and sometimes thought best left alone. Locking it all away may feel safer, but eventually will only result in one's life sentence.

The funny thing is the "key" to the cell lies not with some external prison guard; it sits right on one's person. Intangible, one can never hold it; the key becomes accessible only when one is willing to turn (shift) their perspective from dark to light.

To succeed, one must be willing to travel to unlit space, the place where the shadow lives.

Otherwise, the imprisoned will never truly meet pardon, no matter how many times one lies to themself—only a temporary rest before all crumbles again. 

And the cycle always circles back around.

Why I wrote this poem

Reprieve Reclaimed came to me during a personal moment of mind juggling. As a person who has suffered from anxiety and depression for decades ( specifically related to past domestic abuse), I've often grappled with my place in this world. I've spent significant periods of time in my "cell," so to speak, with intermittent breaks of sunshine. A merry-go-round, for sure, but time has taught me that we must be willing to stop the ride, get off, and discover a new way to navigate life. 

Shadow work has been key for me. True, it's never easy to dive into our innermost depths, but the exploration is worth it. Besides, not every aspect of shadow work is dismal; many beautiful gems lie in the unlit, waiting to be brought to the surface.

If my words resonated or piqued your curiosity, consider purchasing Shadow's Reprieve, available now in paperback and ebook on Amazon.