Once a Star

I found an old trophy in a dusty box,

its gleam dimmed like a long-lost friend,

when I was a child, the world was a field,

a canvas wide where dreams could bend.

I was a star then, leaping from heights,

crashing through grass, bare feet unafraid,

now I step cautiously, not quite a flight,

bound to the ground, my courage delayed.

Dust motes swirling in shafts of sun,

forgotten victories glint and fade,

every leap a memory of what once spun,

now a distant echo, too heavy to trade.