Mirror Image. Poem by dennis moriarty

I recognise you,
You were young once,
Lean and taunt with youth
And the only burden you carried
Was that of expectation,
The only demon to haunt your mind,
The demon of ambition.
You had great cities to see
And continents to cross and moments
Of undiluted happiness.
You had love to give and wise words
To be recited from the pages of your furtile mind.
Oh, but that seems so long ago,
And I can see that the years have been a worthy opponent,
Etching your face with a monochrome of disbelief,
Sketching lines across your forehead
That lead away from the path of expectation,
Down side streets that harbour no ambition,
Along byways that are lined with the demons of living.
Yes I still recognise you, but the question is,
Do you recognise me?