My Shadow Cannot Frighten Me

The beauteous earth, the glorious sun,
      The calm sweet moon, the spangled sky,
      Causation's laws do make them run;
      They live in bonds, in bonds they die.

And mind its mantle dreamy net
       Cast o'er them all and holds them fast.
       In warp and woof of thought are set,
       Earth, hells, and heavens, or worst or best.
       Know these are but the outer crust --

All space and time, all effect, cause.
       I am beyond all sense, all thoughts,
       The witness of the universe.
       Not two or many, 'tis but one,
       And thus in me all me's I have;

I cannot hate, I cannot shun
       Myself from me, I can but love.
       From dreams awake, from bonds be free,
       Be not afraid. This mystery,
       My shadow, cannot frighten me,
       Know once for all that I am He.  

                      - Swami Vivekananda, 
                        poem in a letter written to Mary Hale