All that glitters

When you envision that life in gold,
above the clouds and the rest of the world;
When you have proven yourself thousandfold,
what then?
Who will you be? and me,
a shadow.
You stare at a boy in an old photograph
but you can’t recognise him.
How tenuous the bonds that hold us together.
A vow, a piece of paper with our names in ink,
a memory.
Can you see me now?
I am still here, a felled tree
hidden in fog and pine.
I will be tender as the night that covers
your foolishness and mine.