Goodbye halcyon days

I had a picture in my head
of the man I wanted to be
but I’ve settled instead
on this fragile forgery.

I don’t know what transpired
that turned my dreams aside
or what forces conspired
to crush them ’til they died.

But I can feel the holes
where they used to dwell;
all the shining goals
before they burned out and fell.

Forcing me, at last, to part
with the me I carried in my heart.