Young man up on a mountain (Parts 8 and 9)

Part 8

The old man looks into
the eye of his mind and
sees the young man he once was,
a young man who had thought that
distance meant progress and that
one view could be better than another,
who was always so preoccupied with where he was
but not so bothered by what he brought there
with his presence.
He doesn’t feel that need to
grab him by the shoulders and shake
like he did in earlier days;
no, he has no idea that being sore
with the failings and spottiness of his upcoming
would help anything about what was then
and only steal time from what is now.

Part 9

The young man walks and makes some decisions about
the path to follow
based on thoughts of telling them all about it
back at the office on Monday;
he takes a selfie from the summit
to post on his Instagram.
The old man picks up a leaf,
which he will give to someone
who will thank him and tell him how nice it is
not long before they throw it away,
and when someone asks him where he’s been
and what he’s been doing,
he’ll tell them “nowhere” and “nothing.”