Differences are marked

Differences are marked

With the scars

Of old wounds

With the worst damage

Often self-inflicted

The pain of misdeeds

Never stops haunting

The image we construct

To promote ourselves

As healed

Fully integrated souls

Even as we sleep

Nothing escapes

Without conflict

Even resolution

Is weighted with conditions

To be traded

One against the other

For the benefit

Of peaceful co-existence

When everything

That may look the same

Is different

Dependent on

A point of view

Is there ever

Truly, an independent

Light source

When the direction

Of its projection

Is always known

Shadows follow

The same path

In relation

One to the other,

With no discreet penumbra

Nor opaque reference

To commonly held

Belief systems,

Darkness is complete

With every major difference

Or minor imperfection

Masked

To all

But you.