Straying Footsteps

Our journey began long ago
when we were both such children,
yet I remember thinking it would last forever
I thought it would end when we ended.

At first I hadn't cared to look back,
it didn’t occur to me to check
that we were headed in the right direction,
I was happy to skip on regardless.

I assumed we would get there in one piece,
together of one heart, one mind.
I really don’t remember when or why
I felt the urge to turn and look back at our footsteps.

How shocking to find that yours had veered away
straying far from mine, the gap ever widening.
I tried so hard to lure you back
to the pathway we had shared for so long.

You made it clear you were tired of my route,
I could see your tread had become lighter.
You no longer wanted to carry the burdens
we had acquired, that you preferred to go on alone.

Unaccompanied you were too, right to the end
of the road you had chosen to follow.
How lonely that last mile must have been;
how desolate those last few paces.

My journey continues
I have a new traveling companion;
this time I keep looking back at the footprints
to see if we are still in step (we are)