Glitter in the Sand

Once you were
what I could hold.
I moved with you

like a galaxy that pulls
its silver tail behind,
like tangled seaweed pulsing

with hypnotic rhythms
of the ocean waves,
roots eroded.

But now I have become
what you have made,
an over-sized shell

constructed to protect you;
exoskeleton that holds you
down, delays your exit.

And all that I have left-
calcium, muscle scars
and pearly glitter.