Soon, these footprints will be covered by the snow
And my heart grows as quiet as the music of its fall
The curtain soon to fall upon the show
One memory remains, clearest of them all.

I remember cobblestones, wet after the rain.
Water puddles like mirrors of moonlight
Some port, so long ago, so far away
A girl who sang all through the night.

All she ever gave me was the shadow of a smile
With it, I weaved a better, unlived life. 

Beside my trail of carven years runs another
Imperceptible to all but me
He was born that night, my shadow brother
To live the dream of what might have been.

He dwells along the untrodden ways
Where second chances come to pass
Bathed in the light of better days –
Her light, his heart inside her hands.

All he ever gave me was a mountain of regret
But still, I dreamed his dream, the life I didn’t get. 

Soon, these footprints will be covered by the snow
And though the darkness does not come without fear
I tell my shadow self, at least, at last, we’ll know
If, at the end, the dream path merges with the real.