Kickass and old shadows

Kickass, the doorstop dog, hands it over to the keeper on this Groundhog Day of shadows, as he—the keeper, actually recalls from grade school days, the first few lines of Robert Louis Stevenson “My Shadow.”

Impressed with the duration of such memory clutter, the keeper cannot resist doing a bit of an update:

                                    OLD SHADOW

         I have an old shadow that limps along with me.

         And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.

         He is very, very like me from my heel up to my head.

         I love to see him anywhere–it tells me I’m not dead.

         The funniest thing about him is the way he never falls

         While I am worried all the time, on stairs and in the halls.

         Once my shadow skipped and jumped and ran.

         Now he mimics me as fallen on my can.

         One morning very early before we saw the sun

         My old shadow said he would sleep in, just for fun.

         I said no way! You need to be out there as a positive sign.

         Get your ass out of bed and signal more time!