We stumbled
down old, sacred pathways.
Each seeking to unfold
the dream
that had hidden itself
from our consciousness.
You,
so young,
yet so prepared.
Ready to endure,
for you were all damage.
I was listless,
no intrepid one,
just languishing,
dying in my prime.
I had been content
to be an empty vessel,
but something called me out
and put a song in my heart
where before
there had only been hunger.
Our first steps
were tentative.
Then soon,
we became bolder.
We strode the wide spaces
and traversed the gaps,
often ignorant
of the hidden dangers.
I learned things about myself,
and you learned things about me.
Things I came to wish that you had not.
One night,
you slipped away
into the small spaces
between the shadows,
and I could not follow.
We had wandered
too far out
and in my searching,
I too became lost.
I became a vagrant.
Itinerant traveller.
Until, one day,
after a long time,
I stumbled out of the shadows
and into the light.
I spent a long time recovering.
In many ways,
I am still lost
in those dark places,
the very ones
that claimed you.
I still look for you,
you know,
when the night settles in
and everything becomes a shadow,
but my eyes
do not linger there long.
I have my own light, now.
HG – 2022
