The Return

And as so often happens, we soon came to a fork in the road.
You let me venture a ways down one,
On my own, as it turns out.
As I clumsily sought solid ground, you strode off along the other,
A well-paved path leading back around to familiar territory.

I still cannot be sure how far I had advanced
Before I realized I was alone in my explorations.
The puzzle I now faced being how to find my own safe route.
To circle back and return to where I'd been
Before our trajectories coincided.
The 'I' before the 'you' and the 'we' that was never really one.

If there was to be no future,
I wanted there also to be no past.