Choice

Long ago and somewhere else,

In the warm and scented evening,
You sat cross-legged beside my door.
Your deep brown voice sent tremors through me
As you told the old stories;
Memories of those other days.
I hear that voice
Now, as I sit here in the city.
I can see your heavy-lidded eyes, half shut;
Almost a trance between us.
Somewhere, a dog howls like a wolf,
And a choice is made.
You are no more my hero.
And you never were my friend.
We both knew that from that day,
I would no longer wake alone.