Shadow — Blaise Cendrars

Shadow lives in the forest It goes forth at nightto prowl around the fires It even likes to minglewith the dancers Shadow It waves with the grasses curls up at the foot of trees But in the African experience Shadow is much more The village storytellers and shamans of an Africa that is passing into memory called forth for the poet Blaise Cendrars an eerie image shifting between the beliefs of the present and the spirits of the past Shadow It does not cry out it has no voice It can cast a spell over you It follows man everywhere even to war Marcia Brown s stunning illustrations in collage inspired by her travels in Africa evoke the atmosphere and drama of a life now haunted now enchanted by Shadow