When the magicians were surrounded by riches -
beauty that spun,
just from their minds,
they grew stagnant, and bitter,
And all of them turned, all at once
(to the shadow)
unexplained at their time.

Spell books and tomes had been written and studied
to change hay to gold, and goose into swan.
All manner of spells these men knew how to cast
But the shadow was cast without method;
alone.

The idea of spellcast without a clear cause
disturbed the magicians - and rightfully so.
Their success and their merit depended on magic
created just when and where they said so.

If magic - like shadows - lacked method, they feared,
how could it ever be captured and tamed?
The public would never have come to revere
a magician whose magic went just as it came.

The group long debated, with fevered remarks,
how to salvage their art from the trouble that brewed.
And all took a vote, with their hands on their hearts
to block out all light
(so the shadow went, too)