old friend —
we walked this path before, remember?
back when the shadows that
stalked our footsteps
smiled,
and the darkness was not
swallowing,
but inviting?
do you remember
how the drip drip plunk
of water on rock stirred our stride,
how the skittering and swishing echoes
of creatures, be they mouse or mammoth-sized,
fed our hunger for
adventure?
or rather,
was it danger?
do you remember adrenaline
ripping through our limbs
as we tore ’round bends and boulders,
‘cross caverns and streams that seethed
with blind beasties
and swimming ghosts?
do you remember being
invincible,
young gods in our own
dark, unexplored domain —
yet subject to the vampires that
roosted above us and
at mercy of the
jagged, steep fall
below us?
old friend —
I remember combing through crystals
with you,
back when this path
was colored by youth.